Pakistan on Thursday warned Afghanistan over its decision to sign a ‘strategic partnership pact’ with India, saying it expected its western neighbouring state to behave ‘responsibly’ and avoid ‘point-scoring’.
Addressing her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said Islamabad expected Kabul to behave responsibly and to avoid point-scoring, playing politics or grandstanding. She said, “At this defining stage when challenges have multiplied, as have the opportunities, it is our expectation that everyone, especially those in position of authority in Afghanistan will demonstrate requisite maturity and responsibility.” The FO spokeswoman was replying to volley of questions on the recent visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to India during which he signed a strategic partnership agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“Pakistan is not worried about the agreement as it is the sovereign right of any country to promote bilateral relations with any other country,” Tehmina said, adding that safeguarding national interests was the main focus of the country’s foreign policy. “Pakistan’s interaction with members of the international community is solely guided by Pakistan national interest,” she said.
“We are aware of the regional complexities and are trying to address them, but we have made it clear to everyone that safeguarding our national interests is the primary focus of our foreign policy,” she said. She said other states also needed to have an objective appreciation of regional complexities. To another query, the FO spokeswoman said Pakistan had offered complete assistance and cooperation to Afghanistan into the probe of assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Tehmina said Pakistan had received some material from the Kabul administration through the Pakistani embassy there, adding that evidence was actually a confessional statement of an Afghan national Hamidullah Akundzade, who is accused of masterminding the assassination. On Pakistan-US relations, Tehmina said a number of statements from Washington in the recent days had indicated that the US needed cooperation from Pakistan and both the countries were working on how to move forward.
Kayani warns Kabul of response to cross-border attacks
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani warned Afghanistan on Thursday against cross-border militant attacks into Pakistan’s border regions, saying such assaults would be matched with a befitting response in future. “No such activities will be tolerated in future. Pakistan possesses the capability to respond to any situation,” the army chief told reporters in Mangla after attending ‘Pak-Saudi Joint Military Exercises’. He said Pakistan had carried out its preparations to stop such attacks in future. General Kayani said the army had done what had to be done in the war on terror and now it was up to the civilian government to control the situation. He said the civilian institutions would have to take up their responsibilities and fulfill them in the areas the army had cleared of terrorism. STAFF REPORT
When we will Nuke Pakistan, what good do they offer the rest of the WORLD?
right!! and of course pak is above all and they do not have to behave responsibly!!! They can keeep Osama in their military"s lap and thats ok. They can groom suicide bombers who export terror to neighbors- India and afghan. Why does a peaceful afghan hurt pakis so much??? They get scared if afghans become friends with India WHy??? and now they get daily rebukes form USA and now afghans also are doing the same. SO much for pak's power.!!!! and did they really expect afghans to be friends with pak which is backward and terror infested and not choose India which is a growing power??? SO all these statements for pak FO are meaningless. No one and now even afghans are not listening to pakis.
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