ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday welcomed the United States’ new push for the UN-led peace effort in Afghanistan and urged all sides to work together for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement of Afghan conflict.
Commenting on the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s recent letter to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani pushing for a UN-led peace process and a proposal for a 90-day reduction in violence and a transitional government formed from both sides, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Pakistan had consistently supported the Afghan peace process.
“Our positive contribution facilitated the US-Taliban peace agreement and the subsequent intra-Afghan negotiations…we welcome the US efforts to re-energize the peace process and expedite the final political settlement,” he said.
He said Pakistan has continued to emphasize that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and the only way forward is through a political process. “It is important for Afghan parties to continue negotiations and pursue an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process,” he said, adding that all sides must work together for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement.
In a letter to Afghan president Ghani, US Secretary of State Blinken has reportedly proposed a ‘transitional peace government’ to usher the country through this precarious period, followed by national elections, as well as a UN-led peace conference in Turkey attended by foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the US.
About the proposed UN-led conference in Turkey, Chaudhri said further details regarding the proposed meeting on Afghanistan under the UN will be shared once the official invitation is received.
Responding to a question about the reports which claim that Pakistan would import 45 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from India, Chaudhri rejected the reports and clarified that Pakistan has not entered into any bilateral procurement agreement for Covid-19 vaccine from India.
He said the international vaccine alliance – Gavi has offered to provide vaccine doses to several countries, including Pakistan under its COVAX Facility. He said procurement and supply mechanism of the vaccine doses is undertaken by Gavi and not by the recipient countries
About the missing Pakistan army’s retired officer Mohammad Habib Zahir, he said there is strong evidence pointing towards the involvement of Indian hostile agencies in the abduction of Habib Zahir, including involvement of Indian nationals who reportedly received him at Lumbini, made his hotel reservations and booked his tickets.
He said that the retired military officer was abducted in 2017 from Lumbini, Nepal which is 5 kilometers from the Indian border and at Pakistan’s request, the government of Nepal constituted a special team to look into the incident “but there has been no progress in the matter so far.”
He pointed out that the website that Habib Zahir was contacted from was also operated from India. Moreover, he added that the Indian media reports and tweets from Indian personnel corroborate the evidence that he was in their custody.
He said Pakistan has repeatedly called upon the government of India to cooperate and assist in locating Habib Zahir, “but unfortunately we have not received any positive response as yet.”
“The abduction of Habib Zahir is a serious transnational crime which is in sharp contravention to the international law, especially human rights and humanitarian law…it is also in grave violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Access as well as 2008 bilateral agreement on consular access between Pakistan and India,” he said, adding that the grave human rights violation of the abductee and his family due to illegal actions of the abductors in a third state, speak of the gravity of the matter.
He urged the international community, especially the human rights organizations to take serious notice of the matter and raise their voice for the release of an innocent individual.
He further said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has registered the case of Habib Zahir, on the request of his family.
“The relevant country [India] must respect the UN and constructively engage with the UN Working Group and take necessary steps to enable Habib Zahir’s immediate release. Pakistan will continue to make all out efforts to locate and bring back Habib Zahir,” he added.
To another query, he said India is procuring arms beyond its security needs, which pose serious threat to regional peace and stability.
To another query, he said India is trying to bring demographic changes to the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir for which it has so far issued 3.28 million fake domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris for their permanent settlement in the IIOJK.
He said all such measures are illegal, which need to be reversed, adding India is committing grave human rights violations in IIOJK.
He said the international community and the world bodies, including the United Nations, are highlighting non-compliance India’s human rights obligations.
About the long-awaited SAARC summit, he said that SAARC is an important regional forum and Pakistan is committed to its process and to hold SAARC summit, adding Pakistan believes that all artificial obstacles in the way of long overdue SAARC summit should be removed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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