KABUL (SW): Pakistan will not target Afghans inside Pakistan, a former Pakistani official said in regard to Kabul government’s demand for action against the Afghan Taliban living in Pakistan.
Admiral (retired) Fasih Bokhari, Pakistan’f former Naval Chief told the fourth “Afghanistan-Pakistan Bilateral Dialogue” that the Kabul government should adopt an inclusive policy to allow non-state actors to give-up arms and join the political system peacefully. He said Afghans living in Pakistan cannot be targeted because they would then consider Pakistan enemy once incorporated in a new political set-up in Afghanistan.
The former Pakistani Naval Chief criticized Afghan government’s approach of engaging ‘other countries’ for the peace process that according to him would cause ‘interference’.
Recalling the days when former Mujahidin leaders went to seek Pakistan’s help against the Soviet invasion, Bukari said extremists Taliban filled the power vacuum caused by the chaos erupted after the civil war in the 1990s. He noted that no country in the world would like the regime Taliban imposed in Afghanistan but now a weak state in this country was the reason non-state actors are inflicting damage.
He stressed that both the countries should now look forward to the future and enhance economic ties for the prosperity of the whole region. “We need to break the barriers in our minds”, he said in reference to the Af-Pak ties while quoting the mystic Afghan poet Mawlana Jalaluddin Balkhi (Rumi).
To a question about why Pakistan does not want to have peace talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan while preaching for talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Bukhari said a number of militant groups have laid arms in Pakistan.
Amrullah Saleh, former spymaster for Afghanistan said on the occasion that Pakistan must give its policy of seeing the militants as strategic tools in Afghanistan. Glorifying India’s contribution for democracy and development in Afghanistan, he said Pakistan can learn lessons and replicate it by developing provincial council buildings across 34 provinces.
“Everywhere in Afghanistan you ask an Afghan they would tell you Pakistan is at war with us”, Saleh said while lamented Islamabad’s constant interference in Afghan affairs. “A cricket bat and football can bring us together, do not use our diversity against us, it will not work, we will rise”, he added.
The former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) noted that weak economies like Pakistan and Afghanistan are susceptible for division hence both countries should refrain from exploiting vulnerabilities and should engage in cooperative ties.
Saleh regretted that Pakistan was also not allowing Afghanistan to best utilize the Karachi port for trade purposes. He also stressed that people like Maulana Fazal Rehman in Pakistan should be stopped from glorifying terrorism in Afghanistan.
Abdul Hakim Mujahid, Deputy Chairman for the High Council for Peace said on the occasion that the Taliban are willing to engage in peace process. He said in a previous interaction with the representatives of the Taliban in Paris, the rebels expressed willingness to adopt softer stance on a number of issues if engaged in a political process of reconciliation.
During the “Afghanistan-Pakistan Bilateral Dialogue”, the rrepresentatives of the international community stressed that by taking advantage of the so many common aspects between the two counties, Pakistan and Afghanistan should strive together for peace and prosperity in this region.
ENDS
