EDITORIAL: Although there was nothing new in the statement regarding the status of the territories of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier which the British Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Mr Noel-Baker, made in his Parliament speech on Thursday [June 30], such an authoritative reiteration of the position as it indisputably obtains in International Law was necessitated by Afghanistan’s senseless cold war against Pakistan. Lately, the Afghan Ambassador in London had been trying to canvass some sort of support in the United Kingdom for Kabul’s fantastic claim to these areas and our High Commissioner considered it necessary to protest… . Mr Noel-Baker’s statement [“… the Durand Line is the international frontier”] should now give quietus to them.

If the Afghan Government are wise — which is rather a large assumption — they should give up talking of their “kith and kin beyond the Durand Line” and pay more attention to the well-being of their real kith and kin who are living a wretched and penurious existence within their own frontier. In that task … Pakistan as a friendly neighbour and a Muslim country has always been willing to help… .

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2024