ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministry of Afghanistan on Wednesday dismissed a media report that Pakistan had written a formal letter to the Taliban administration, asking its officials to arrest a high-profile militant leader of a proscribed Pakistani faction hiding in their country.
The report, which emerged earlier in the day, said Pakistan had asked the Afghan authorities “to locate, report and arrest” Masood Azhar who established an armed faction in 2000 to carry out militant violence in the region.
It added Pakistan suspected that Azhar was hiding in one of the two Afghan provinces of Kunar or Nangarhar.
Responding to the development, the Afghan foreign ministry rejected the report “asserting that Jaish-e-Mohammed group leader, Masood Azhar, has sought refuge in Afghanistan.”
“We reiterate that IEA [Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan] does not allow any armed oppositions in its territory to operate against any other country,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, on Twitter.
“We also call on all parties to refrain from such allegations lacking any proof and documentations,” he continued. “Such media allegations can adversely affect bilateral relations.”
The Taliban have repeatedly given assurances to the international community they would not allow militant factions to target other states by using Afghan soil.
However, the administration in Islamabad maintains a conglomerate of militant factions, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is based in Afghanistan from where its operatives target its citizens and security forces.
Azhar, who was captured by India in the past, was released from prison after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight which was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan in 1999 when the city was under the Taliban control.
