Interior Minister Noor-ul-haq Ulumi says the government is considering taking complaints against Pakistan to the UN.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment has been swelling in recent weeks.
Interior Minister Noor-ul-haq Ulumi says the government is considering taking complaints against Pakistan to the UN.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment has been swelling in recent weeks. Both President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah had questioned Pakistan’s role after a wave of bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Kabul killed more than 50 people at the start of August.
Interior Minister Ulumi said last week that Pakistan was interfering “even more” in Afghanistan’s affairs than in the past.
A signature campaign led by Member of Parliament (MP) Baktash Siawash has collected more than 5,000 endorsements. Siawash says the campaign captures the national mood in Afghanistan. The letter with signatures was handed over to UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UANAMA), and officials have promised to forward it to high-ranking UN authorities.
Once again UNAMA has called for an immediate halt to attacks in civilian areas. The statement was released on its twitter account on Aug 22, within hours of a suicide blast close to a clinic in Macroyan, a densely-populated neighbourhood in Kabul. Eight people were killed and more than 30 injured around the Shinozada clinic when a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck targeted a convoy of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission.
The Taleban have denied any involvement in the attack that killed Afghan women and children and also three US Resolute Support contractors.
Sidiqa, 36, told Killid she was very disturbed after the Shinozada attack. “Tears made rings in my eyes. Not a morsel of food went down my throat,” she says. “All people should request the government to convince Pakistan to counter groups that have centres in that country,” she adds.
Pakistan protests
Public anger against Pakistan, which has erupted in demonstrations and protests on the street, has agitated Islamabad. The government has made clear its displeasure to Afghan Ambassador Janan Mosazai, who has been summoned several times by the foreign office of Pakistan. On Aug 23, the Afghan ambassador was reprimanded for an alleged cross-border attack on a Pakistani military checkpoint that left four soldiers dead.
A statement from the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan condemns terrorism of any kind and is ready to join efforts to counter it jointly with the Afghan government.
Meanwhile, the peace process, which seemed derailed by the Kabul attacks, showed signs of movement. Pakistan’s Geo TV quoted Mawlana Sami ul-Haq, a religious scholar and leader of the Jamiat ulema-e-Islam, who is considered close to the late Taleban leader Mullah Omar, saying to journalists that all groups of Taleban are ready for talks with the Afghan government. The mawlana has announced his support for Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the new leader of the Taleban, and urged all jihadist groups to put aside their differences and accept the new leader of the Taleban.
Political observers believe there is more effective cooperation between the different tiers of government in Islamabad than in Kabul, and consider this a main factor for Pakistan’s success against Afghanistan.
Farzad Ramazani, a political expert says, “Even the leaders of the national unity government are bargaining over division of power. The existence of political, tribal and zonal differences also have caused weakness in the Afghan government vis a vis Islamabad.”
Another political observer Mohammad Qarabaghi thinks the only way to contain Pakistan is to build a regional block against it. “Establishing a regional bloc against Pakistan is the only way to get rid of the continuous damage it inflicts. Most of the countries in the region consider it the centre of dissemination of terrorism. It should not be permitted to continue this dangerous role.”
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