Afghan govt condemns Imran’s jihad comment

Karzai to meet MPs in this regard.


Ayesha Hasan October 13, 2012

KABUL:


The reverberations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan’s political gaffe are being felt across the Durand Line.


The Afghan government has strongly condemned the PTI chief for his statement, said Farhad Azimi, deputy secretary of the Afghan parliament while talking to The Express Tribune.

“This is clear interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. We urge the Pakistani government to arrest people who support the Taliban,” Azimi said. Imran, while visiting child activist Malala Yousafzai in Peshawar on Thursday, had termed the ongoing war in Afghanistan against foreign troops ‘jihad.’

Azimi said Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet members of parliament in a regular session on Saturday (today) to discuss the issue.

He is likely to issue some directions in this regard, Azimi said.

 Political slogan

Veteran journalist and political analyst Fahim Dashti said this is not the first time Imran has given such a ‘negative’ statement about Afghanistan.

“It is a political slogan through which Khan wants to gain more support. Clearly this is neither fair nor logical,” Dashti said.

Those who consider terrorism a threat would never support Khan in this stance, Dashti said, adding “even if they are supporting him, he will lose them slowly.”

He said the Afghan people had high expectations from Imran when the PTI emerged as a strong political entity, but he proved to be a conventional politician.

‘Imran supported by Taliban’

“The war in Afghanistan is not jihad. This is a war by terrorists against Afghanistan, its people and the entire international community,” said Hamid Zazai, managing director of Mediothek, an Afghan-German NGO.

He alleged that Khan is receiving support from the Taliban, and that by making such statements, he is just “paving the way for stronger Taliban support than what he is enjoying now.’

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2012.

COMMENTS (119)

Mishrab | 11 years ago | Reply

IK lost sense. He is sort of mix breed of JI & PML (N). Take a cold water shower man.....

Adnan Khan | 11 years ago | Reply

This, from a puppet of a Christian occupying force in Afghanistan. What else should we expect him to say ?. . For our indian audience and those liberal-fascists here, who have not had the occasion to visit a mosque yet, I would like to tell them that... every Friday, all across Pakistan, in hundreds of thousands of mosques, Pakistanis pray for the Mujahideen's absolute victory and the total destruction of US/Allied forces who are occupying their land. . And how can you ask any Pakistani to be "neutral" ?. We have hosted 7-9 million Afghans for the last 30+ years. We have not kept them locked into camps, we opened our homes to them. They have visited our hospitals when they get sick, they study in our schools alongside us. They live next door to us. Many of them are Pakistanis, because they were born here. Hell with anyone who says that we shouldn't care what happens to them next. . It's india, a far flung pagan country who should mind it's own business, when it comes to Afghanistan. . Pashtuns are 60% of Afghanistan. They will always rule Afghanistan. Better get used to it, bub.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ