This is apropos two back-to-back letters to the Editor titled ‘The success of Army Chief’s Afghan policy’ carried by the newspaper on Wednesday and Thursday. Pakistan’s demands are twofold: first, that the Afghan government must cease harboring these militants, and second, that they must hand them over to the Pakistani authorities to be subjected to the legal and judicial processes and held accountable according to the laws of the land.

Given these firm demands, the option of mediation is almost a non-starter for Pakistan. Zabihullah Mujahid’s assertion that the issue is an internal matter for Pakistan carries little weight or substance, given that the Afghan government is knowingly and willingly harboring a declared terrorist group of over 6,000 heavily armed militants within its territory. By providing these terrorists with hospitality, financial resources, and the means to survive, Afghanistan has made itself an active party to the conflict. Therefore, it cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, declare itself uninvolved.

It is an internationally recognized norm that responsibility for acts of terrorism extends not only to the terrorists themselves but also to the entities or countries that harbor them and provide them with safe havens. This principle is enshrined in various international legal frameworks, including United Nations Security Council Resolutions, which emphasize the accountability of states that support or tolerate terrorist activities. Consequently, the claim made by Zabihullah Mujahid that the TTP issue is merely an internal matter for Pakistan is both illogical and lacking in reasonable basis.

Qamar Bashir

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024