MONITORING (SW) – Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Asim Iftikhar has said that Pakistan has been engaged with Afghanistan for the past several months through institutional channels for effective coordination and security along the Durand Line.
“Unfortunately, elements of banned terrorist groups in the border region, including TTP, have continued to attack Pakistan’s border security posts, resulting into martyrdom of several Pakistani troops,” said Asim Iftikhar. On 14 April 2022 as well, seven Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in North Waziristan District by terrorists operating from Afghanistan, he added.
Reaffirming respect for Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, the spokesperson said Islamabad will continue to work closely with the Afghan government to strengthen bilateral relations in all fields.
The Foreign Office on Saturday said it was “looking into” reports of alleged action by Pakistani forces in the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Khost.
The FO’s response was to claims made by an Afghan government official and a resident in Kunar province that Pakistani forces fired rockets early Saturday, leaving six people dead, The News reported.
“Five children and a woman were killed and a man wounded,” provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal alleged. Ehsanullah, a resident of Shelton district where the alleged attack reportedly took place, said it was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft. Ehsanullah goes by one name as many Afghans do.
Pakistan’s MNA Mohsin Dawar had also raised the issue in Saturday’s National Assembly session, terming the reported incident as a “highly tragic one”. He had claimed that the alleged victims were internally displaced persons from North Waziristan who had crossed into Afghanistan before the start of Zarb-i-Azab.
Afghanistan has dubbed the deadly air raid by Pakistan on Khost and mortar shelling on Kunar as “an invasion on Afghanistan’s territorial integrity.”
Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations has condemned Pakistani airstrikes on Khost and Kunar provinces, calling them “an invasion of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity.”
Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations issued a statement saying the Pakistani attacks, which killed more than 40 civilians, including children and women, were a clear violation of international law, the principles of the UN Charter, UN General Assembly resolutions and the UN Security Council Declaration of Good Neighborhood.
Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan’s eastern provinces over the past 20 years have resulted in civilian casualties and the displacement of innocent people, the statement said. “We emphasize the need for a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism and extremism,” the statement added. “The abuse and killing of civilians is not justified under any circumstances.”
Pakistani troops bombed four villages in the Spiri district of Khost province yesterday morning. The Pakistani military also launched attacks on residential areas in the Shaltan district of Kunar province the night before, killing and wounding civilians, including women and children.
Local officials have not yet commented on the exact number of casualties. Sources had previously confirmed that at least 30 civilians had been killed and 15 others wounded in airstrikes on Khost, but sources in a number of media outlets confirmed that more than 40 people had been killed.
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