Daily Times

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday, assuring all-out efforts by Pakistan to investigate the July 16 incident regarding the daughter of Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, urged the Afghan government to reconsider its decision of recalling their envoy and senior diplomats from Pakistan.

“As the presence of Afghan ambassador in Pakistan is very important for further strengthening and broadening bilateral relations, this absence will not be in the interest of the two countries,” Qureshi said while addressing a press conference along with National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad at the Foreign Office.

The foreign minister shared some details of investigations made so far into the July 16 incident and said that the Afghan side has been requested for their cooperation to reach a conclusion. He also shared with media the details of his telephonic conversation with Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar during which he apprised him of the measures taken by Pakistan after the incident and the progress made in the investigations so far.

The foreign minister said he told his Afghan counterpart that Prime Minister Imran Khan had personally taken notice of the incident and was overseeing the investigation process. “We desire to reveal the facts before them as well as before the world and bring the culprits to justice. We will not keep anything secret,” he maintained. The foreign secretary also assured the Afghan ambassador of all-out cooperation, he added.

He reiterated that the Afghanistan government should reconsider its decision to pull out its ambassador and diplomats from Pakistan, adding that if they want the investigation to be transparent, it will have to cooperate with Pakistan. “Pakistan wants to arrest and punish the culprits involved in alleged kidnapping as soon as possible,” said the foreign minister. “I told the Afghan ambassador that we are aware of the security concerns he is having, therefore, we have beefed up all Afghan diplomats’ security.”

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf said that Pakistan is currently a target of ‘hybrid warfare’ and an entire network of information warfare is being used against the country. He recalled that the EU DisinfoLab had exposed an India-based network of fake websites and media outlets doing propaganda against Pakistan. He said fake accounts and bots were being used to create a ‘narrative’ against Pakistan, including regarding the incident involving the Afghan envoy’s daughter.

As an example, the NSA showed a tweet by a verified Indian Twitter account that contained a false picture of the Afghan envoy’s daughter showing her in an injured state. He said the ‘spoilers’ were trying to create rifts between Pakistan and Afghanistan, adding that this narrative reflected that Pakistan was being made a ‘scapegoat’ in Afghanistan.

Speaking alongside him, Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman said police had analysed all footage of the movement of the Afghan ambassador’s daughter. He added that the ‘impression given [about her abduction] is not corroborated by the evidence we have collected’. He revealed that police interviewed more than 200 people in the case after examining the footage obtained through close circuit TV cameras. “The woman first leaves from her home on feet, then she hires a taxi from Rana Market and heads to Khadda Market. We subsequently identified the taxi and located its driver and interrogated him,” the IGP said.

He continued that Silsila then hired a second cab from Khadda Market that took her to Rawalpindi. “Similarly we traced the second taxi and its driver confirmed that he picked up the woman from the market and dropped her off at Saddar, Rawalpindi. We also obtained its footage,” he added.

The envoy’s daughter then hailed another cab from Rawalpindi to reach Daman-i-Koh. “Upon reaching there, she hired a fourth taxi for F-9, but made a brief stopover at F-6,” he said.

According to the IGP, the driver of this taxi told police that the woman asked him to stop the car at F-6, and made a phone call to someone, but it could not go through. She then asked to be taken to F-9, the police chief said.

After the cab finally reached F-9, he said, the woman called someone at the embassy and the staffer picked her up from there.

The IGP said Silsila had contended that she did not visit Rawalpindi, but her claim was disputed by the CCTV footage. Police have sought further assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address a few points in the case, he added.