Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Sunday reassured Afghanistan that Pakistan was open to any suggestion that would facilitate peace there. In this spirit, he offered to form a Pak-Afghanistan Army working group to jointly work and formulate security recommendations for government level discussion, aimed at addressing mutual concerns, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement issued here said.
The CoAS was in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to attend the meeting of Quadrilateral Counter Terrorism Co-ordination Mechanism (QCCM). Besides him, the meeting was attended by senior military leadership of other member countries, including China's General Li Zuocheng, General Sobirzoda Imomali Abdurrahim of Tajikistan and General Sharif Yaftali of Afghanistan. On the sidelines of the event, the CoAS met Afghan CGS General Sharif Yaftali. In the meeting, the Afghan situation was discussed candidly, sharing concerns. The Army Chief while assuring the fullest cooperation to Afghanistan said that Pakistan could not bring Afghan war into its own soil.
Pakistan, he said, had already cleared all its areas indiscriminately and had started unilateral border security measures, including the fencing. Besides border security management, other key factor for enduring peace was dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees, he added. The Afghan CGS agreed to the Army Chief's proposal for forming a Pak- Afghanistan Army working group and thanked him for his relentless efforts towards peace.
Meanwhile in the QCCM meeting, all the four leaders welcomed the QCCM initiative and expressed the hope that an inclusive and co-operative regional approach would prove best for eradication of terrorism. Speaking on the occasion, General Qamar Javed Bajwa highlighted Pakistan's achievements in the fight against terrorism and eliminating terrorists' safe havens from its soil.
He said being a transnational threat, terrorism could only be defeated through intelligence sharing and co-ordinated effective border management. The participants also signed an outline co-operative mechanism, which will come into force after its endorsement by respective governments.
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