Daily Times

A day after Pakistan sought Afghan help to apprehend the perpetrators of a terrorist attack on Chinese engineers, the Taliban government on Friday turned down Islamabad’s request, claiming Kabul had nothing to do with the March 26 incident.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sent an interior secretary to Kabul with a message to seek assistance from Afghanistan in the ongoing investigations into the Besham attack. Secretary Interior Muhammad Khurram Agha held talks with the interim Afghan Deputy Prime Minister and shared evidence linking the attack on Chinese engineers with Afghan territory.

A foreign office statement said the Afghan side agreed to examine the findings of the investigation and expressed the resolve to work with the Pakistan side to take the investigation to its logical conclusion.

“The Afghan side reiterated its commitment to prevent the use of their soil for any terrorist activity against other countries, including Pakistan,” the statement added.

However, the spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban government rejected Pakistan’s statement, saying Pakistan was trying to create distrust between Kabul and Beijing.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, in response to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement about the perpetrators of the attack on Chinese citizens in Pakistan. “This issue has nothing to do with Afghanistan and Pakistan should ensure its own security,” he claimed. He further said: “Targeting Chinese nationals in Pakistan is related to Pakistan and has nothing to do with Afghanistan. The report published by Pakistanis is an attempt to create distrust between China and Afghanistan. We have repeatedly denied this, and it is also illogical.”

Earlier speaking at the weekly news briefing, foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan and Afghanistan had “robust channels of communication”, including regarding Pakistan’s serious concerns about the terror threat that Pakistan faces from groups, which have hideouts and sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.

“Yesterday, talks were held at senior official levels and led by Secretary Interior from the Pakistani side and Deputy Minister for Interior from the Afghan side and we have been engaged with each other to ensure that the Afghan territory is not used to create trouble in Pakistan. The Afghan authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure that Afghan territory will not be used against third countries including Pakistan,” she added.

Pakistan’s move to seek Afghanistan assistance to apprehend the perpetrators of March 26 attack came just days before Prime Minister Shehbaz is to undertake a visit to Beijing, where security of Chinese nationals would be one of the key talking points.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that suspects involved in the March 26 terrorist attack that killed five Chinese engineers have been identified. The Chinese engineers and their Pakistani drivers were killed in a suicide attack on the Karakoram Highway. Initial findings of the investigations found a link between Afghanistan and the terrorist attack.

On Sunday, Pakistan asked the Afghan Taliban government to arrest the entire leadership of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and put them on trial after sharing fresh evidence linking Afghanistan with the attack in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Besham.

Speaking informally to the media in the Parliament House in Islamabad, he said that the Secretary of Interior and Foreign Office officials have travelled to Kabul to brief Afghan authorities about those involved in the attack.

“We have identified the culprits responsible for the attacks on Chinese engineers. The Secretary of Interior and Foreign Office officials are in Kabul to ensure Afghan authorities are fully briefed about those involved,” he said.