To facilitate Afghanistan in holding peaceful parliamentary elections, Pakistan agreed to keep 'Friendship Gates' at Chaman and Torkham closed on October 19 and 20 at the Afghan government's request, according to Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal. Dr Faisal further said the decision to close the two crossing points, except for emergency cases, was taken to support Afghanistan to smoothly conduct the parliamentary elections.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi telephoned his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani to condemn Thursday's deadly assassination attack in Kandahar in which provincial governor Zalmai Wesa, a key police chief of the province Gen Abdul Raziq, and the province's intelligence chief Gen Abdul Momin were killed in an attack launched by the Governor's guards.
Speaking to his Afghan counterpart Rabbani, Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed the hope that parliamentary elections would be held in a peaceful environment throughout Afghanistan on Saturday.
"These elections are an important landmark for strengthening of democracy in the country, which remains the key to achieve sustainable peace and progress in Afghanistan," Foreign Minister Qureshi was quoted by the spokesperson as having said during his telephonic conversation with Foreign Minister Rabbani.
Dr Faisal said Foreign Minister Qureshi reassured Rabbani about Pakistan's complete support for Afghan democratic process and expressed his condolences on the sad demise of the governor, police chief and intelligence head of Kandhar.
"Foreign Minister Qureshi reiterated that Pakistan condemns terrorism. We would continue to work with Afghanistan for achieving long term peace and stability in the region, for which ending the conflict in Afghanistan was an essential step," the spokesperson said, adding that peace and economic development in Pakistan was linked with restoration of complete peace and stability in Afghanistan. Thanking the Foreign Minister for his support, Foreign Minister Rabbani briefed Qureshi about the difficulties being faced by the Afghan government in holding elections in Afghanistan in a successful manner.
Comments
Comments are closed.