Border tensions: Kabul threatens to move UN
Afghan ambassador calls for ‘urgent security huddle’ to defuse tensions
KABUL/ISLAMABAD:
Amidst simmering tensions over cross-border attacks by Taliban insurgents and retaliatory action from Pakistani security forces, Kabul warned on Sunday that it would move the United Nations if the matter was not resolved diplomatically.
This came as Kabul’s top diplomat in Islamabad called for an ‘urgent huddle’ of security officials and experts from both countries to defuse the situation which can bedevil their bilateral diplomatic relations.
“Pakistan should respect its neighbours and immediately stop missile attacks,” Faramarz Tamana, the deputy spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry, told a news conference in Kabul.
“The ministry condemns missile attacks from the neighbouring country into the Afghan province,” Pojhwok Afghan News quoted Tamana as saying. Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Omar Daudzai has taken up the matter with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, he added.
Mortar and artillery fire by Pakistani security forces into border areas of Kunar increased after 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed by marauding militants from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have found safe havens in eastern Afghanistan after fleeing military operations.
Blame game
Pakistani officials say that fugitive TTP militants, led by their senior cadres Maulvi Fazlullah and Maulvi Faqir Muhammad are using Kunar and Nuristan as a springboard for launching attacks on Pakistani security forces – a claim recently condoned by the TTP.
Following the June 24 deadly attack on Pakistani security forces by TTP militants in Upper Dir, Maulvi Fazlullah’s spokesperson Sirajuddin Ahmed had said that Afghan militants were aiding them in cross-border attacks.
Afghan officials, on the other hand, accuse Pakistani security forces of targeting Afghan civilians in the two provinces with mortar and artillery shelling.
Ambassador Daudzai suggested that security officials and technical experts from the two countries should sit together ‘as soon as possible’ to resolve the issue.
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai will also discuss border tensions with Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf when the latter visits Kabul on July 16-17,” Daudzai told The Express Tribune.
The Pakistani premier was earlier scheduled to visit Kabul on July 9, but the trip was postponed by a week, official sources said. “Pakistani and Afghani leaders will exchange views on the border tensions and I hope they will resolve the matter amicably,” Daudzai said.
Afghan refugees
The two leaders are also expected to discuss the thorny issue of repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, according to Daudzai. Pakistan had given illegal Afghan immigrants, mostly living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, until June 30 to return home voluntarily.
“Pakistan, as a neighbor, should not set deadlines. The Afghan government wants the repatriation to take place with honour and dignity,” said the ambassador.
(With additional input from News Desk)
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2012.
Amidst simmering tensions over cross-border attacks by Taliban insurgents and retaliatory action from Pakistani security forces, Kabul warned on Sunday that it would move the United Nations if the matter was not resolved diplomatically.
This came as Kabul’s top diplomat in Islamabad called for an ‘urgent huddle’ of security officials and experts from both countries to defuse the situation which can bedevil their bilateral diplomatic relations.
“Pakistan should respect its neighbours and immediately stop missile attacks,” Faramarz Tamana, the deputy spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry, told a news conference in Kabul.
“The ministry condemns missile attacks from the neighbouring country into the Afghan province,” Pojhwok Afghan News quoted Tamana as saying. Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Omar Daudzai has taken up the matter with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, he added.
Mortar and artillery fire by Pakistani security forces into border areas of Kunar increased after 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed by marauding militants from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have found safe havens in eastern Afghanistan after fleeing military operations.
Blame game
Pakistani officials say that fugitive TTP militants, led by their senior cadres Maulvi Fazlullah and Maulvi Faqir Muhammad are using Kunar and Nuristan as a springboard for launching attacks on Pakistani security forces – a claim recently condoned by the TTP.
Following the June 24 deadly attack on Pakistani security forces by TTP militants in Upper Dir, Maulvi Fazlullah’s spokesperson Sirajuddin Ahmed had said that Afghan militants were aiding them in cross-border attacks.
Afghan officials, on the other hand, accuse Pakistani security forces of targeting Afghan civilians in the two provinces with mortar and artillery shelling.
Ambassador Daudzai suggested that security officials and technical experts from the two countries should sit together ‘as soon as possible’ to resolve the issue.
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai will also discuss border tensions with Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf when the latter visits Kabul on July 16-17,” Daudzai told The Express Tribune.
The Pakistani premier was earlier scheduled to visit Kabul on July 9, but the trip was postponed by a week, official sources said. “Pakistani and Afghani leaders will exchange views on the border tensions and I hope they will resolve the matter amicably,” Daudzai said.
Afghan refugees
The two leaders are also expected to discuss the thorny issue of repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, according to Daudzai. Pakistan had given illegal Afghan immigrants, mostly living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, until June 30 to return home voluntarily.
“Pakistan, as a neighbor, should not set deadlines. The Afghan government wants the repatriation to take place with honour and dignity,” said the ambassador.
(With additional input from News Desk)
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2012.