Pakistan embassy spokesman rejects Afghan govt’s claims of artillery attacks in Kandahar. PHOTO: \fILE
Kabul has lodged a protest over alleged firing in southern Afghanistan from the Pakistani side and warned that it was capable of responding to ‘aggression’ in kind.
Afghan officials alleged that Pakistani troops had fired into a border district in the Kandahar province on Thursday. A senior Pakistani diplomat was summoned to the Afghan foreign ministry on Saturday to seek an explanation for the attack which killed a policeman and injured two others.
“The deputy director of the first political division, Baba Khan Aslami, has asked the Pakistani charge d’affaires in Kabul, Jan Bahader, for an explanation for the artillery and mortar attack from Loy Band on an Afghan border police post in Karizak, Kandahar,” the Afghan foreign ministry statement said.
“Strongly condemning the attack, as a result of which one border police officer was martyred and two others were injured, Aslami told the Pakistani official that the continuation of such acts was unacceptable for the Afghan government and people.”
Aslami warned the Pakistani diplomat that the Afghan government could retaliate against such attacks. The reason it refrained from doing was that the people living on the other side of the Durand Line “are our own people too, who should not be harmed”.
However, the Pakistani charge d’affaires said that he was not aware of the incident. “Bahader promised to expeditiously report the matter to his government and provide information to the Afghan government on the results,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Embassy spokesman in Kabul, Akhtar Munir, rejected the Afghan government’s claims of artillery and mortar attacks.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Munir said Pakistan’s policy was to maintain friendly relations with Afghanistan as such a relationship was in the interest of either country.
He said that instead of resorting to blame games, the Afghan government should use the existing bilateral forum to resolve issues peacefully.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2013.
COMMENTS (14)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713973361-4/Destryed-Gaza-Historical-Sites-(1)1713973361-4-270x192.webp)
1713853507-0/MalalaHilary-(2)1713853507-0-270x192.webp)
I sense alot of Indian hindus in these afghan threads.....
@Afghan Maihan: Pakistan is Switzerland compared to Afganistan. 5 mill plus afghans in PK suggest so. If we hadent closed border to India poor hindus would also come. Because here food is provided to everyone!
Why not remove artillery and mortar from the Afghan border? It serves no purpose except to inflame tensions.
@Ibad khan: than please do die, it would be a good riddance to die for a country whose blaming Pakistan which hosted tons of its refugees in era of war and not only once. You people just want to blame the things around you but would never feel like looking at your own doings!!
@khattak:
"This disputed land was legally to be returned to Afghanistan in 1993 after the 100 year old Durand Treaty expired, similar to how Hong Kong was returned to China. Kabul has refused to renew the Durand Line treaty since 1993 when it expired, Throughout the last nine years, Pakistan has tried to get Afghan Warlords and Taliban to sign a renewal contract of the Treaty, and thankfully they didn’t not fall for the treachery of Pakistan. One of the reasons Pakistan faced problems with the Kabul rulers right from its inception was Kabul's claim over the North West frontier Province. (NWFP) Kabul never accepted that line or the fact that the NWFP is part of Pakistan. This was one of the main policy planks used by President Daoud Khan's government when it tried to foment trouble by Pashtoons nationalists in the NWFP on the issue of greater Pashtoonistan.
Until this day, the disputed land which rightfully and legally belongs to Afghanistan, is still recognized as the North-West Frontier Province, NWFP. Every other province in Pakistan is named by the ethnic group that resides there, such as Punjab, Sindh, and Balouchistan. But the ethnic Afghans that are forced under the sovereignty of Pakistan must accept the degrading and purposely named NWFP."
Durand Line:Afghanistan
@Afghan Maihan:
hush hush...don't utter those words again,for most of them believe they ruled India for thousand years. And their identity is of Arabic,Persian,central Asian etc etc.but not Indian.
Good to know that afghans are more realistic and know the south Asian history better than some of our immediate neighbors.
oh,i almost forgot: PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!!!!
I am a Pashtun sadly residing in Pakistan, but i would die for Afghanistan
@pakistani1414918:
Beaten back? The highest of your generals quivers at the notion of a war with the Afghan national. You couldn't even contain Bangladesh. Only thing you can do is support bands of criminal terrorist to have the bravery you lack.
@Usman Chatta......What the Afghan Govt is saying that they don't want to return fire because Afghans(Pashtuns) are living on the other side of Durand Line as well. As a Pashtun I have an utmost respect for Afghan Govt not to fire at me & my people. Do you have any problem with Pashtun living in peace on both side of a line drawn by Britisher Sir Durand?
@Usman, Afghanistan = Dirt & Dust and Pakistan? Oh please, don't trivialize yourself! Pak is currently on grace time, the ship sank long back..
"Capable of responding" yeah sure they've been 'hitting' us with words for over half a century over the durand line, only to be beaten back like wimps.
Gotta love the continuous Afghan claims that the Pashtun people of Pakistan would sooner be part of their country. Most Pashtuns are patriotic and loyal Pakistanis who look to solve their problems within the structure of our country and its high time the Afghans realised this and concentrated more on developing their country of dirt and dust rather than concentrating on ours.