ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected the statement by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wherein he expressed “serious concerns” over crackdown on protesters in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi termed the remark as “irresponsible” and a “gross interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
“The Afghan government has serious concerns about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protesters and civil activists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” President Ghani tweeted Thursday morning.
In a sharp rebuke to President Ghani’s tweet, Qureshi responded: “We reject the tweet by President Ashraf Ghani. Such irresponsible statements are only gross interference. Afghan leadership needs to focus on long-standing serious grievances of the Afghan people.”
President Ghani, however, said that it is “moral responsibility of every government to support civil activities that take a stand against the terrorism and extremism that plagues and threatens our region and collective security. Otherwise there could be long standing negative consequences.”
He was apparently referring to a protest demonstration organized by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Balochistan and Islamabad over alleged killing of its leader, Arman Loni. Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies on Tuesday arrested around 18 activists of the PTM from Islamabad for “maintaining public order.”
The PTM emerged in Pakistan’s Pashtun belt last year with a set of demands including to clear Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan of land mines and put an end to what it claimed as ‘extrajudicial killings’ in these areas.
President Ghani’s statement comes at a time when Taliban have been negotiating with the United States to find out a negotiated settlement of the decades-old Afghan conflict. The US special envoy for reconciliation in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad announced having reached a framework deal with Taliban for peace in the war-torn country after six days’ moot in Doha, Qatar.
Taliban have so far denied to directly engage with the Afghan government for peace in the country and analysts believe the move has isolated President Ghani and his team.
“President Ghani’s statement about internal affairs of Pakistan is a clear manifestation of frustration on his part as his government has been effectively sidelined by the Taliban,” Rahimullah Yousafzai, an expert on Afghan affairs, told Arab News.
He said that Pakistan has helped broker peace talks between the US and Taliban, and President Ghani’s administration feels that Islamabad has intentionally sidelined Afghan government in the ongoing peace talks.
“Also, Afghanistan is going to have its elections in July; therefore, President Ghani and his allies are expected to issue more such statements against Pakistan in a hope to win votes in the polls,” he added.
