ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan told Arab News on Friday that senior American, Chinese, Russian and Pakistani officials had opened consultations in Doha to “explore a way forward in the Afghan peace process.”
Khan is part of the Pakistani delegation attending the meeting of the “Extended Troika on the Peaceful Settlement in Afghanistan” that is held at a time when there has been no substantial progress in intra-Afghan negotiations that began last year in September.
Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq is leading his country’s delegation.
“All these meetings and initiatives are to held to achieve the goal [of peaceful settlement] and reflect Pakistan’s commitment for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Khan told Arab News from Doha.
“Pakistan believes there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and a peaceful resolution of all hostilities requires serious negotiations among all Afghan stakeholders for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan,” he added.
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said in a Twitter post that the Taliban political representatives met special envoys from the US, China, Russia and Pakistan on Friday.
He said that the meeting discussed the release of remaining Taliban prisoners and removing names of the insurgent group’s leadership from the United Nation’s blacklist and the US rewards list.
Naeem added that all sides agreed to initiate practical work to end sanctions on the Taliban leaders.
Earlier, a Pakistani official, who did not want to be named, said that members of the extended troika would try to convince the Taliban to be at the Istanbul Conference that is expected to be held after Eid Al-Fitr.
The Taliban refused to participate in the Istanbul meeting that was postponed twice this month.
Previously, Naeem said in a Tweet post that the Taliban would not participate in an international conference focusing on the Afghan situation unless all foreign forces left Afghanistan.
The last troika plus meeting was held in Moscow in March that was also attended by the Taliban and Afghan government delegation as well as a Qatari envoy and Afghan political leaders.
The Taliban had rejected a joint statement that came out of the Moscow meeting as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs since it opposed the restoration of Taliban’s Islamic Emirate.
Pakistani team in talks with the Taliban
In another development, a Pakistani official told Arab News on condition of anonymity that a Pakistani delegation had gone to Qatar on Wednesday to meet the Taliban political envoys and “convince them to show flexibility in intra-Afghan talks and reduce violence.”
The Taliban last month floated a proposal for a three-month reduction in violence to create a conducive environment for talks, though the initiative could not go too far after United States President Joe Biden announced a delayed troop withdrawal that would finish by September 11.
The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in late February 2020, calling for a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.
Pakistan said on Thursday it had always maintained that it could not control the Taliban.
“We will continue encouraging them to remain engaged in the peace process leading to an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan,” foreign office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at his weekly news briefing.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is also in Doha to attend the meeting.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen confirmed in a Twitter post that Khalilzad interacted with the political representatives of the insurgent group on Thursday and discussed the latest situation in Afghanistan.
United States, Russia, China and Pakistan discuss fragile Afghan peace process in Doha
https://arab.news/9ce3k
United States, Russia, China and Pakistan discuss fragile Afghan peace process in Doha
- The special representatives of the four countries met with the Taliban political representatives to find a way forward in peace talks
- The Taliban distanced themselves from international peace efforts after President Joe Biden announced delayed troop withdrawal
Peshawar church attack haunts Christians at Christmas
- The 2013 suicide attack at All Saints Church killed 113 worshippers, leaving lasting scars on survivors
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities on Christmas, act against any injustice
PESHAWAR: After passing multiple checkpoints under the watchful eyes of snipers stationed overhead, hundreds of Christians gathered for a Christmas mass in northwest Pakistan 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers.
The impact of metal shards remain etched on a wall next to a memorial bearing the names of those killed at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in the violence-wracked province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife who was wounded in the attack along with her parents, told AFP on Thursday.
Her right wrist still bears the scar.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on September 22, 2013, when 113 people were killed, according to a church toll.
“There was blood everywhere. The church lawn was covered with bodies,” Zulfiqar said.
Christians make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim country, often sidelined into low-paying jobs and sometimes the target of blasphemy charges.
Along with other religious minorities, the community has often been targeted by militants over the years.
Today, a wall clock inside All Saints giving the time of the blast as 11:43 am is preserved in its damaged state, its glass shattered.
“The blast was so powerful that its marks are still visible on this wall — and those marks are not only on the wall, but they are also etched into our hearts as well,” said Emmanuel Ghori, a caretaker at the church.
Addressing a Christmas ceremony in the capital Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities.
“I want to make it clear that if any injustice is done to any member of a minority, the law will respond with full force,” he said.
For Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, “The intensity of the grief can never truly fade.”
“Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old teacher told AFP.
