Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal Friday said that the first meeting of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Working Group would be held in Kabul today (Saturday) where Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua would lead the Pakistani delegation.

During the weekly press briefing, the spokesperson said that Pakistan had proposed five joint working groups to focus on counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, military, economy, trade and transit interaction, refugee repatriation and connectivity.

Reiterating Pakistan’s stance that there was no military solution to the Afghan problem, he said only an Afghan-led and owned peace process would ensure peace in the country.

The FO spokesperson said that Pakistan would continue to support efforts for peace in Afghanistan, but the Afghan government needed to reach a settlement with different Afghan groups. He said the endless cycle of violence in Afghanistan had and would add to the woes of the people of Afghanistan and also the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, who would not be able to return to their homes.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of a series of recent deadly attacks in Kabul, after which a high-level delegation from Afghanistan comprising the interior minister and spy chief visited Islamabad earlier this week with a ‘personal message’ from President Ashraf Ghani. The delegation held talks with Pakistani leadership on security cooperation amid the highly volatile security situation in their country.

Responding to a question regarding Pak-US relations, the FO spokesperson said that Pakistan wished for strong relations with the US based on mutual respect and friendship. He said the country could not expect assistance to be the yardstick for measuring bilateral relations. The spokesperson said Pakistan looked forward to mutually beneficial partnership with all countries and its foreign policy reflected the aspirations of its people and serves its national interests.

The FO spokesperson added that the country had taken indiscriminate action against all terrorist groups.

The spokesperson strongly rejected accusations of Pakistan supporting the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network, and said that Pakistan would not allow its land to be used against any of its neighbours. He said Pakistan had been rendering continuous sacrifices for the cause of global peace. The FO spokesperson reiterated that focus should be on eliminating safe havens of the TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar in Afghanistan.

Pakistan had constructed 975 posts along its border with Afghanistan, while Afghanistan had built nearly 200 posts only, said Faisal. “Around 470 attacks were carried out in Pakistan from Afghanistan,” he said. The spokesperson noted that the 27 suspects handed over to Afghan authorities recently were in connection to the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.

Pakistan continues to share intelligence with more than 70 countries, he said, adding that Pakistan had sacrificed 75,000 civilians and 6,000 soldiers to the scourge of terrorism and suffered economic losses worth $123bn.

Referring to rights violation in Held Kashmir, he said that Pakistan had strongly condemned the brutal and indiscriminate use of force by Indian forces that had resulted in the martyrdom of three innocent civilians, namely Ahmad Bhat, Suhail Ahmad and Rayees Ahmad Ghani, and injuries to several others in the Ganowpora village of Shopian district on January 27.

To a question, he said Pakistan and the European Union had been partners in peace, stability and economic development for decades. Pakistan had been granted GSP Plus status by the EU after meeting basic criteria for the scheme, like nine other countries.

Published in Daily Times, February 3^rd 2018.