ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said war with the Afghan Taliban regime had started and questioned how Pakistan could hold discussions or dialogue with them.
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“How can we shake hands with those whose hands are stained with the blood of our martyrs,” he questioned while talking to a TV channel and added that there was not a single terrorist organisation in the world which didn’t have presence in Afghanistan.
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At the same time, the senior politician made it clear that “Afghanistan can be treated a neighbour, [but it] cannot be declared a brother,” and also recalled that it was Afghanistan which carried out the first attack on Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the defence minister also remarked that “those who sip tea and coffee there [in Kabul] were not [acting] in the interests of Pakistan.
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The comments came as people associated with the same school of thought are still opposing military operation against the terrorists despite the human cost Pakistan has been suffering and the Taliban regime’s failure to act against the terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan.
BAJAUR CAMPAIGN OF 1960
The defence minister was referring to the then Afghan prime minister Mohammad Daoud Khan’s decision to attack the erstwhile Bajaur Agency in Sept 1960 in an attempt to capture the region.
However, the aggression known as Bajaur Campaign ended in the Afghans surrendering with the diplomatic ties between the countries remaining suspended to three years.
Although the Bajaur Campaign was the first large-scale invasion, small-scale but repeated border skirmishes between the countries at different points had started in as early as 1949.
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AFGHAN NATIONALS
Khawaja Asif said around four to five million Afghan nationals were still living in Pakistan and added that many of them had reached important positions after getting Pakistan passports.
Therefore, he said the government could go for a purge and stressed the need for making efforts to achieve the objective.
“We are not ready to tolerate those any more who doesn’t have allegiance to the country [Pakistan],” said the defence ministers.
It’s a developing story. Details to follow.