PML-N welcomes dialogue process in Kabul

Expresses hope talks would result in formation of broad-based Afghan govt

LAHORE:

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) welcomed on Wednesday the dialogue process in Kabul between the Taliban and other stakeholders, and expressed the hope that this dialogue would result in the formation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan.

The PML-N leadership held a consultative meeting on the Afghanistan situation, chaired by its Quaid Nawaz Sharif and attended by party president Shehbaz Sharif, Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

Other participants of the online meeting were senior party leaders, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rasheed, Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khurram Dastagir, Rana Sanuallah, Amir Muqam, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Attaullah Tarar.

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During the meeting, the participants emphasised that a national consensus in Afghanistan over the next government in Kabul would be a major step forward in bringing peace and reconciliation to the Afghan people.

They said the PML-N respected the sovereignty of the Afghan people to determine their political future, without any foreign interference. They emphasised that neither the Afghan territory should be used against its neighbours nor other country’s territory be used to undermine Afghanistan.

The meeting expressed dismay that the global community was actively engaged in deliberating on the Afghanistan issue to evolve their own policies, but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s only priority was political victimisation and persecution of the opposition.

“The PML-N feels that peace, security, and stability between Pakistan and Afghanistan are linked and the two brotherly neighbours need to cooperate and trade with each other to build a prosperous future for their people and the region,” the party said.