Tit-for-tat response: Pakistan summons Afghan diplomat

Lodges protest against ‘unprovoked firing’.

ISLAMABAD:

As tensions mount, Islamabad on Tuesday summoned a senior Afghan diplomat to lodge a strong protest over the ‘unprovoked firing incident’ along the border that injured five Pakistani soldiers on May 6.

The Afghan charge d’affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry a day after a similar protest was lodged by Kabul with Islamabad.

According to a foreign office statement, the Afghan charge d’affaires was told that Afghan forces resorted to unprovoked firing on the Gursal post at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The incident resulted in injuries to five Frontier Constabulary soldiers, the statement added.

FO spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said that, as in the past, Pakistani security forces exercised maximum restraint and communicated the incident to the Afghan side through military channels.

The Afghan diplomat was conveyed the Pakistani government’s grave concern and asked to advise the relevant authorities in Afghanistan to avoid a repeat of the unprovoked firing which was undermining the existing coordination mechanisms between the security forces of the two countries, Chaudhry added.

“Pakistan feels that the repetition of unprovoked firing incidents are adversely affecting the friendly relations between the two brotherly countries which have covered a long distance in building trust and understanding in the recent years,” he said.



Chaudhry claimed the diplomat was also told that in case of further escalation in tensions, the Afghan government would be held responsible.

Separately, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman categorically denied Afghan media reports quoting Afghan officials who alleged that some Pakistani troops crossed the border into Goshta district of Nangarhar province on Monday, which resulted in casualties of Pakistani troops.

“Let this be absolutely clear that neither Pakistani security forces crossed into Afghan territory. Hence there is no question of any casualties. This is baseless and fabricated news,” the ISPR spokesman said.

Tensions between the two neighbours have escalated in recent weeks with Kabul accusing Islamabad of sabotaging the peace process in the war-torn country.

Recently, Afghan President Hamid Karzai also asserted that his country would never recognise the Durand Line as an international border between the neighbours.

Pakistan rejected Karzai’s assertion on Monday, insisting that the Durand line was a settled issue and any attempt to reopen discussions on the subject was a “distraction from pressing issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2013.