Pakistan asks Afghanistan to handover APS suspects

Army chief General Raheel Sharif asked Afghanistan on Tuesday to hand over six suspected Peshawar school suspects in Afghan custody to Pakistan.

Pakistan, Afghanistan pledged to continue operation on their respective side of the borders and vowed not to let any use their soil against each other’s country.

The Army Chief, accompanied by Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, arrived in Kabul on Tuesday on a day-long visit for talks on security issues amid warm military-to-military relations.

General Raheel Sharif, leading a high level delegation, called on President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace in the afternoon.

According to sources the army chief also raised the issue of the handover of six suspects of the attack on Army Public School attack who had been arrested in Afghanistan.

Last week during a media briefing, the army spokesperson Maj Gen Asim Bajwa said that the six men suspected of being involved in APS attack had been arrested by the Afghan authorities on intelligence passed on by Pakistan.

During a meeting between COAS and Afghan president, both appreciated the improving relationships between neighbouring countries. According to Inter Services Public Relations, they further pledged to continue security operations against extremist elements on their respective sides of borders and vowed not to let their soils be used against other.

"The Army Chief also apprised the Afghan president of Pakistan's efforts to push the peace process forward," a Pashto-language statement from issued by the Palace said.

COAS mtng Afgn President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul today pic.twitter.com/fmkWh3yfNP

— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) February 17, 2015

"The messages from the Pakistani delegation were positive and their commitments have raised hopes that results will be clear within weeks."

"The Afghan gov't hopes that the Pakistani pledges and steps will yield positive results,” the statement further said.

The army chief also met Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah during his visit. Abdullah acknowledged the positive developments in bilateral relations between two countries including progress in operations, border management and intelligence sharing.

Earlier ISPR said the army chief and ISI chief had arrived in Kabul on a one-day visit to discuss matters pertaining to security.



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Gen Raheel was in Kabul two months ago, a day after the horrific attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar to hold key meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and ISAF commander in Kabul.

During that meeting, Ghani had assured General Sharif that Afghan soil would not be allowed for terrorist activities against Pakistan, and any signature found in this regard will be immediately eliminated.



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Further, the ISAF commander had assured the army chief of their complete support in eliminating terrorists in his areas of responsibility.