DAWN.COM

Today's Paper | December 19, 2024

Updated 29 May, 2017 12:19pm

India, Afghanistan joining hands to create unrest in Pakistan: Khawaja Asif

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif alleged in the National Assembly on Monday that India and Afghanistan have joined hands to create unrest in Pakistan.

Responding to opposition lawmakers' point of objection, Asif in his reply said that Pakistan is trying to implement better and more complete border management with Afghanistan.

Until there is better border management with Afghanistan, he said, the scourge of terrorism will continue to exist.

The issue of border management is one of national security, Asif said, urging lawmakers not to play politics on the matter.

Read more: Afghanistan will never recognise the Durand Line: Hamid Karzai

"We have the right to shut the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and protect our people," Asif claimed.

He said that the border has 25 openings from where people travel between the two countries, but Pakistan cannot let terrorists to cross into the country.

"If there will be terrorist attacks in the country and people will die by the hundreds, we will shut the border down," he asserted.

"We gave refuge to thousands of Afghans, but we will not keep housing terrorists," he said, adding, "The killers of our sons are sitting on Afghan soil, the government needs to take action against them."

Discussing the matter of discrimination against Pakhtuns in the recent operations all over the country, Asif claimed, "There is no discrimination against any one ethnicity. The operation is against terrorists and terrorists do not have any religion, caste or ethnicity."

"A number of terrorists were caught from the south of Punjab, they were not Pathans," he concluded.

About India, the defence minister said that there had been a constant rise in India's alleged unprovoked firing and violation of the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control.

Asif in a written reply to the NA claimed that in the past four years, India has violated the ceasefire agreement 1,170 times along the LoC and 257 times across the Working Boundary.

The civilian death toll in the past four years has been 111 people, he said.

Read Comments

Schools to remain closed across Punjab on Monday due to 'security situation' Next Story