“Evidence shows that Rabbani’s death last month “was plotted in Quetta and the person who carried out the suicide attack against Rabbani was a citizen of Pakistan,” a statement from Afghanistan’s presidential palace said, citing investigators. It added that the killer had been living in Chaman.
(Read: Death in Kabul)
Rabbani, chairman of the High Peace Council, was killed on September 20. Karzai’s government has been struggling to start talks with the Taliban in a bid to end the 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan but has made no meaningful progress. His spokesman Siamak Herawi said on Sunday that the president was reviewing his peace strategy, adding that he would reveal next steps “very soon”.
Afghan Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi, giving testimony in parliament on Saturday, alleged that the Inter-Services Intelligence played a role in the killing.
Islamabad strongly rejected “the baseless allegations”, calling Burhanuddin Rabbani a “martyr” and “a great friend” who lived in Pakistan for a long time and had many friends here. Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesperson for the Afghan spy agency, said on Saturday that the administration had handed Pakistan’s embassy evidence, including names and addresses of the people in Quetta, who had plotted Rabbani’s killing.
“The so-called evidence given to Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul is actually a confessional statement of an Afghan national, Hamidullah Akundzadeh, accused of masterminding the assassination,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office. However, it added that the authority concerned would work on this piece of information. “The Afghan interior minister did not say that the assassin had been four days in the guest house of the High Peace Council managed by Afghans close to Rabbani”, the statement added.
(Read: Afghanistan after Rabbani)
“The assassin was also apparently not body searched before the meeting. These facts are also part of the confession handed over to the embassy”. It also said that “the interior minister’s statement is all the more regrettable as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had himself offered cooperation in the investigation, during his visit to Kabul”. “Instead of making such irresponsible statements, those in positions of authority in Kabul, should seriously deliberate as to why all those Afghans who are favourably disposed towards peace and towards Pakistan are systematically being removed from the scene and killed,” the statement added.
Rally in Kabul
On Sunday, hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Kabul to condemn recent shelling of border towns by Pakistan Army and accusing the ISI of involvement in Rabbani’s assassination. Under tight security, the one-hour rally passed without any incidents.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.
COMMENTS (37)
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@Diggvijay Singh: Pakistan has been a front-line state in the global war against terror and, not only in the recent past but over many decades,
how you can talk like this? Give some solid examples. pakistan in one main contributor in creating and spreading terrorism for its strategic depth. if it is fighting terror today to same extent only which is not under its control and going out of it's hand as a strategic tool. do you think this is an unnecessary statement and only for vilifying to pakistan?
it has made a giant contribution to regional development and growth.
you are joking, aren't you?
Even after these false allegations by Hamid Karzai which are so woefully short of the kind of hard evidence that could pass the test of rigorous logical scrutiny in a Pakistani court of law
how you can say these are false allegation? Listen friend it is not a city crime for which a concrete evidence can be produced in few days, it is a game of intelligece agencies. and after all even you don't have any one strong argument that these allegations are false.
Pakistan’s response has been mature and conciliatory. Rather than bashing Pakistan, we need to appreciate Pakistan’s commitment to gift the world a strong and stable Afghanistan.
you are making yourself ridiculous now.
hi all, i'm a dumb american, but i 1st want to say that i have no problem with afghans, pakistanis, indians, muslims, etc. i tend to be more suspicious of my own gov. i just have a question. mullah omar and the haqqanis are supposed to be living in quetta, pakistan, right? they are the ones that karzai is saying are responsible, right? how are they able to live there in total secrecy? why arent they brought in for questioning? [i suppose that's a stupid question. they would probably be droned if the usa knew where they were.] does mullah omar ever make public statements? the haqqanis seem like a totally bad lot. arent they the ones behind that hotel bombing? why is mullah omar working with them? if mullah omar is the main voice behind taliban resistance to occupying forces, why doesnt that man speak and send some emissary to work with the afghan gov toward at least a cease fire and then to get negotiations toward a settlement? i do think india should back off. there's enuf foreign involvement in afghanistan's future already. the issues between bordering pak and a'stan should be priority. with india in the mix, it makes it harder. i think india should stick exclusively to humanitarian aid and stay out of the politics. someone needs to help those poor afghans. and please dont blame me for what my gov does. if i were prez, the 1st thing i wd do is shut down every weapon building industry in the usa. and then burn the buildings. every ceo would then spend the rest of their lives doing community service. in chains. and then i'd start on the cia and all the myriad secret 'security' agencies in the usa. dont mothers teach their sons that fighting is no way to solve problems anymore? fighters are all idiots.
msg to mullah omar- come out from under your bed and negotiate for peace.
Damn..i dint know ISI is keeping the whole world on its toes and now that ISI is doing so much all over and around while supposedly making a fool out of a super power lets rename it as GOD cuz honestly thats to be much for humans!!..Also if what you guys are saying is true than i think the whole world is no match for IS no matter what they do,ISI strikes...ISI should now officially start claiming the natural calamities aswell around the world cuz remember we just renamed it as GOD..
He was a great friend of Pakistan . . . commonsense says only an anti Pakistan element could do such a heinous crime . . . .Never a Pakistani!! Pakistan needs to be beware of scapegoaters!
So is the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai (when he will not listen to US & India). No biggi.
@punjabi:
To you and all my fellow Indians, I'd like to say that I am humanist and a true follower of the concept vasudhaiva kutumbakam or, in other words, the whole world is a single family. I want to ask, why would we want to bash and vilify Pakistan? Pakistan has been a front-line state in the global war against terror and, not only in the recent past but over many decades, it has made a giant contribution to regional development and growth. Even after these false allegations by Hamid Karzai which are so woefully short of the kind of hard evidence that could pass the test of rigorous logical scrutiny in a Pakistani court of law, Pakistan's response has been mature and conciliatory. Rather than bashing Pakistan, as Indians, we need to appreciate Pakistan's commitment to gift the world a strong and stable Afghanistan.
How naive can the Afghans be to trust the Indians as they cannot even see how they are being manupalated and their soil used by the Indians to fight a proxy war through the back door with Pakistan. "It is like a monkey cutting the very branch it is sitting on"!! Take care brethern . .Salams!
There is something terribly wrong in the Mumlaykut e Khudad e Pakistan. Is there one neighbor who is happy with us ? China accepts us as a necessary and only to serve its own interest and fully realizes how dangerous a Baywakoof Dost can be versus an Intelligent Enemy and so they now are hobnobing with Indians.
How lonmg will this dangerous stupidity continue ?
Cheers AD
@Diggvijay Singh: lol so ur a fair-minded Indian?ok,when was the last time u criticized pakistan even when a critique was necessary,ive read alot of ur comments recently and trust me they dont show u of having a fair mind. im not saying condemn pakistan unnecessarily but for a "fair-minded" person im sure its easy to see the faults when they have to be seen.plzz used your real name next time,thanx.
@A.Khan: If you choose to believe the comments of the Afghanis, you would think that everyone in Afghanistan is innocent! Nothing could be further from the truth. They alone are responsible for their own misery and this time no friendly help from Pakistan to these people should be forthcoming. It's time to deport each and every Afghan refugee and seal the borders to these lackeys of India who are themselves responsible for all the terrorism in the region along with their Indian masters.
@Any & Cautious
Both of you STFU and get lost, I'm sick and tired from your repugnant statements, if you don't like Pakistan or Pakistanis then why bother reading Pakistani newspaper ???????????
Despite generous US aid Pakistan always plays a duplicitous role on war on terror. Pakistan has a long history of being deceptive and harboring terrorists, yet we hand them billions of dollars over the past 7 years. We have put our troops in harms way to protect them. Our troops have trained their soldiers to fight and gave them free weapons only to have that used against us. We have tiptoed around their lying and cheating while handing them money that our people have to pay for while all along for 6 years, they have hidden Bin Laden right under the noses of everyone This monumental Pakistani deception has raised the issue of whether any pledge provided by the Pakistani military and Government can be believed, including the security of its nuclear arsenal.
Reminds me of a scene from "Lord of the rings part II" where the king was under the spell of the white wizzard and whatever the evil wizzard would say, the king would do. Same is the case with karzai. He is under the spell of US army and India. US wants to put more pressure on pakistan. Mr Karzai you are a fool to think that all your mocking around is going to make any difference to Pakistan.
SAB SAY PEHLAY PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN ZINDABAD. AMEEEN.
Ya Pakistan is heavenly force. It can do anything on earth. Kill anyone, make anything. ISI and Pak army is god so why not worship them. Stop fooling Pakistani people. now whoever it is. Media, India, or any other propagandist. Think about women and children in Pakistan
I love the part when most of the Pakis, GOP and the establishment give so much credit to India. USA on its part has spent billions on Pak to control and have successes in installing a puppet Govt.
Whereas India, according to Pak has created mayhem inside Pak, has a military force of 90,000 in Afghan and is trying to wedge influence in Baloch for its independence. In spite of being a poor country, it has done this for a couple of millions of dollars. Then it means Pak is surrounded from their northern, eastern and western borders. What remains for their escape route is the Indian Ocean.
In spite of all this, the mighty establishment (according to many insane populaces) cannot do anything or are they working for them?
No investigation - just denial. Typical Pakistani response which is why you have little credibility in the international community. Even when under intense pressure you start and investigation and then do nothing. How's that investigation of the death of Syed Saleem Shahzad coming? Hows the investigation of who was hiding OBL coming?
@let there be peace: No, Pakistan Foreign Office has only one function, Rejection of Allegations. Foreign Office has no role whatsoever in the making of Foreign Policy. That is the sole prerogative of Deep State.
ISI killed Kennedy too, I think. :-)
@Let there be peace The department of "Allegation Rejection and dossier handling" is the most esteemed department of foreign office.
Ha ha ha , so its hamid karzai the puppet that is blaiming PAK now. His policies & statements are formulated by CIA. Whats the difference between Afgan GOV allegation & Obama's allegations. Can the world be really fooled like that? Stability is not possible with minority tajkis ruling over majority Pastuns .And whats really amusing is that india is seeking influence in central Asia through US while they can't even control their 7 N.Eastern states. Did the indias forget that Afganistan is a muslim majority state having no borders with India ? It is not the same as tiny butan or sikkim. Among all this great game being played it is the paks & afgans suffering the most. Being a muslim I sincierely pray that my afgan & pakistani brothers can get out of the predicament that they are in right now.
@ Analyst "All terrorist attacks on India , including 26/11 happened because of failure of indian security forces. The 9/11 attack happened because of failure of CIA. All attacks on Afganistan happen because of failure of Karzai security forces. : Foreign Office"
Don't say such things. It distracts Pakistan from providing security to the WHOLE world!!!
I think Pakistan Foreign Office has separate 'Department of Allegation Rejection '
@Diggvijay Singh I salute all those great Pakistani intellectual minds on this blog that like your comments.
everyone seems to have problem with pakistan, iran has problem with the treatment of shias, indians have problem with pak, afghas have problem, nato has issue, americans has issues wiht pakistan..who else dont have problem with pak... Pakistan is problem child of saarc and the world..its time to introspect for pakistan
they are talking as if there is no terrorist organization in existence in afghanistan ... and all terrorism flow from pak land.. =D afghans should know that kabul has no control over 80% of their land.. for killing someone i dont think everyone requires a Certificate of Murdering from ISI... grow up babies who ruling afghanistan
As a fair-minded Indian, I have to say Pakistan has always helped Afghanistan in many different ways in the past three decades. Although Pakistan has always rendered its duties respectfully by securing Afghan interests and precipitating the collapse of occupying Communist Soviets, the Afghans have miserably backstabbed Pakistan. They never miss a chance to malign Pakistan in the international stage. This is not the behavior you would expect from a good neighbor and an Islamic country. But then, Karzai has always been a puppet and his only ambition in life is to drag Pakistan down.
There was simply no evidence admissible in a court of law.
Pakistan is fighting war on terror after 9/11 for the sake of peace in the region.
Government of Afghanistan should investigate the matter in-depth as there seems to be a doubt that in the killing of former Afghan President, RAW of India may have been involved so that the blame should come on Pakistan.
Every one knows in the world that India is playing a more active role in Afghanistan and India has more influence in Afghanistan than Pakistan.
It is in the interest of Pakistan that peace should prevail not only in Afghanistan but in Pakistan as well.
Murder of former Afghan president Rabbani is sabotage to the peace process which the US and Pakistani governments wanted to restore at the first instance.
It is now up to Afghan government to investigate that matter instead of blaming Pakistan.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are two neighbouring countries like Pakistan and India.
Pakistan never had any war with Afghanistan but since independence, Pakistan had three wars with India.
It was India and not Afghanistan who broke Pakistan and made East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971, whereas during the Afghan war with the former Soviet Union, it was not India but it was Pakistan who welcomes hundreds of thousand of Afghans in Pakistan to help them out in critical times.
After doing all this, how can Pakistan be involved in president Rabbani’s assassination?
Bad Karma is catching up with Pakistan fast!
When things go wrong, go terribly wrong for double-faced con artists!!!
All terrorist attacks on India , including 26/11 happened because of failure of indian security forces. The 9/11 attack happened because of failure of CIA. All attacks on Afganistan happen because of failure of Karzai security forces.
: Foreign Office