Pakistan and Afghanistan have stepped up efforts to reduce tensions and agreed to hold talks on a dispute over the ownership of a marketplace in Peshawar.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Zahid Nasrullah Khan and Acting Foreign Minister Idrees Zaman on Saturday discussed an Afghan delegation’s trip to Islamabad relating to the legal dispute of the Afghan market in Peshawar, Afghan Foreign Ministry said.
In September, the Afghan government closed its consulate in Peshawar after the police removed the Afghan national flag from a marketplace. The consulate still remains closed.
The controversy started after the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that a Pakistani citizen, Shaukat Kashmiri, was the owner of the Afghan market, instructing the authorities to vacate the building and hand it over to Kashmiri.
Pakistani officials insist they cannot interfere in the court’s affairs, but both sides are talking on the issue to find out a solution.
On their part, Afghan officials say that Afghanistan owns the area and it was purchased before the birth of Pakistan. The plot belonged to the Afghan National Bank, they say.
Relations were also tense due to harassment of diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul in recent weeks. Pakistan closed its consular office in Kabul last month, citing “security reasons”. The Pakistani Embassy’s visa operation is currently suspended, but applications of patients and medical emergencies are being processed.
Afghan Foreign Ministry said Ambassador Nasrullah and Foreign Minister Zaman agreed to hold meetings of all groups under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) framework.
The meetings were earlier scheduled to be held in Kabul in December, but were postponed and are likely to be held in January. The last APAPPS meeting was held in Islamabad in June.
During this meeting, both sides talked on a series of issues like recent developments in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf’s trial and bilateral cooperation in consulate affairs, an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement said.
“The acting foreign minister talked about the Afghan president’s vision for extending regional economic and transport cooperation and Pakistan’s place in his vision,” according to the statement received by Daily Times.
Pointing at the 7-point peace plan of the Afghan government, both sides hoped that the new phase of peace talks could bring a sustainable and permanent peace in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Nasrullah met Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib in Kabul on Monday as part of efforts to reduce tensions. Both sides had agreed to “expand” relations and assured the Pakistani envoy that Afghanistan was ready to cooperate with Pakistan in all fields, and expected the same from neighbours.
In order to reduce tensions, ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood travelled to Kabul last month and in a meeting with Mohib they discussed formation of a technical committee to solve problems between the two countries.