ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would strongly react if Afghanistan continued with its militant and aggressive anti-Pakistan posture, said a Foreign Office spokesman here tonight [July 27]. He was commenting on a recent statement by Afghan Ambassador in New Delhi … who reportedly said that Afghanistan did not consider the NWFP and Baluchistan as parts of Pakistan, that it would continue to support “Pakhtoonistan” and that it was not interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs.

The … spokesman described … [the] reported statement as … ridiculous. He added that Pakistan had suffered with patience Afghan claims for 27 years. It was time that the equivocal terms with which Afghanistan always tried to disguise its real intentions were thoroughly exposed. …

He said Afghanistan on the one hand made territorial claims against Pakistan and on the other professed to follow a policy of non-alignment which enjoined respect for the territorial integrity of other States and non-interference in their internal affairs. “The Afghan situation was, therefore, nothing short of hypocritical. As for its concern for Pakhtoons and Baluches in Pakistan, Afghanistan could … devote its attention towards … its own … masses.”

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024