Boycott of Bonn Conference: Karzai requests Gilani to reconsider decision

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday telephoned Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and requested him to reconsider Pakistani's decision to stay away from Bonn Conference. Karzai said that media reports were circulating that Pakistan had decided not to participate in the Bonn Conference.
The Afghan President, while expressing his concern over the media reports, requested the prime minister to reconsider the decision as the Conference was being convened for peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan's absence from the moot would not be helpful to the efforts aimed at bringing about peace in the Afghanistan.
According to PM Secretariat's Press Wing, Prime Minister Gilani said that Pakistan had been extending complete co-operation for peace and stability in Afghanistan. However, he said, how could a country, whose own sovereignty and territorial integrity was violated from the Afghan soil, could play a constructive role?
The prime minister recalled that several cross-border attacks were launched into Pakistani territory in the past in which scores of Pakistan's security personnel lost their lives. He said that those attacks were a clear violation of the International Law and Nato/ISAF mandate.
The prime minister said that the recurrence of such incidents would definitely narrow down the political space for the government where the country's own sovereignty was at stake. Karzai expressed the deepest condolences on behalf of the people and the Government of Afghanistan on the martyrdom of Pakistan's security personnel in an attack on the army check post by the Nato/ISAF forces.
The Afghan President thanked the Government of Pakistan for extending full co-operation to the Afghan investigation team, which visited Pakistan in connection with the investigation of assassination of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani. Gilani assured the Afghan President that his administration would continue to extend full co-operation till the culprits behind the tragedy were not apprehended.
The Afghan President recalled his meeting with the Prime Minister on the sidelines of the recent SAARC Summit held in Maldives and described it as positive and forward looking. Gilani said that Pakistan was working for the stability of Afghanistan because a stable, independent and peaceful Afghanistan was in Pakistan's interest. He expressed his deepest regret on the use of the Afghan soil for attacking Pakistan sovereignty at the hands of the Nato/ISAF forces in Mohmand Agency. The prime minister said that the breach of Pakistan's sovereignty and the martyrdom of the army personnel had enraged the people of Pakistan.