Pakistan Today (Lahore)

FM lambastes Afghan NSA over objectiona­ble remarks against Pakistan

- MULTAN staff report

foreign minister Shah mahmood Qureshi on Saturday called on Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah mohib to “reflect and correct” his behaviour.

At a gathering of political workers in multan, Qureshi, addressing the Afghan NSA directly said, “if you do not desist from using the kind of language you are and the baseless accusation­s you are making against Pakistan, no Pakistani will shake hands or talk with you”.

Qureshi said that Pakistan had suffered greatly in terms of loss of lives and financial cost from terrorism over the years and that it only wanted peace and stability in the region.

The fm was responding to comments made by the Afghan NSA during a visit to Nangarhar province where he termed Pakistan a “brothel house”, as per a Voice of America report.

The report said mohib routinely accuses Pakistan of providing support and planning to the Afghan Taliban.

you should be ashamed and you should be guilty at your words and my blood is boiling ever since your speech in Nangarhar.

“Correct your behaviour and reflect on it. i say this to the internatio­nal community that if this behaviour continues, then this person, who calls himself the national security adviser of Afghanista­n, will actually be playing the role of a spoiler.”

He added that the Afghan NSA was creating obstacles on Afghanista­n’s road towards peace and trying to worsen the situation instead of improving it. Trilateral FM Meeting: earlier in the week, in his virtual address at the 4th China-afghanista­npakistan Trilateral foreign ministers’ Dialogue on Thursday, the foreign minister said that Pakistan has always strived to strengthen its relations with China and Afghanista­n in the bilateral as well as regional context.

“We attach great importance to this dialogue enhancing cooperatio­n and coordinati­on,” he said. Qureshi said that it was about four years ago that the three countries had conceived this trilateral forum for discussing collaborat­ive efforts to promote peace and stability in Afghanista­n and the region, enhancing security and counter-terrorism cooperatio­n and deepening regional connectivi­ty and shared economic developmen­t through meaningful projects.

The foreign minister said that since then, Pakistan has successful­ly moved forward this forum through a gradual, phased but consistent approach. He said that the United States and NATO forces have already started withdrawal of troops from Afghanista­n. He also said that while the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanista­n entails serious security challenges, it also offers a unique opportunit­y for peace and reconcilia­tion in Afghanista­n and moving the country from a perpetual internal conflict to an era of peace and stability. “We should, therefore, explore how our three neighbourl­y countries can work together to deal with the evolving situation in an effective manner and steer it towards achieving our shared objective of lasting peace and stability in Afghanista­n and the region,” he said. The foreign minister said that Pakistan, China and Afghanista­n are located in a region which has immense opportunit­ies for fostering mutually beneficial economic and developmen­t cooperatio­n. “Our three geographic­ally linked countries straddle historical routes traversing east-west and north-south,” he added. Qureshi said that durable peace and stability in Afghanista­n would lead to a conducive environmen­t for harnessing the true potential of regional connectivi­ty and further deepening economic interdepen­dence through use of innovation and technologi­cal advances. “Such an outcome will surely contribute to progress, welfare and better lives for the peoples of our countries,” he added. Qureshi expressed the confidence that the deliberati­ons of the trilateral meeting on all the agenda items would be constructi­ve, meaningful and result-oriented. He thanked State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi for hosting the meeting and welcomed Afghanista­n’s Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar joining in.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Pakistan