Pakistani authorities will investigate the claim of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that it recently arrested a senior Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) commander in Afghanistan, but they also doubt the authenticity of ISAF assertion and believe that it is yet another move to defame Pakistan.
Pakistani officials say that irrespective of what the ISAF and Afghan authorities say or claim in their statements about the arrest or presence of LeT commander in Afghanistan, they have not yet formally contacted Islamabad over the vital issue.
ISAF’s statement released in Afghanistan early this week said the LeT commander was arrested with a “number of other insurgents” during an operation by Afghan and coalition security forces in Andar district of Ghazni province.
It said the LeT commander was alleged to have planned and participated in multiple attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout Kunar, Kandahar and Ghazni provinces of Afghanistan.
ISAF said the LeT commander, a Pakistani national, who was not identified, was also “known to have links to multiple foreign fighters, and was actively planning a high-profile attack at the time of his arrest”.
According to media reports from Afghanistan, Afghan officials have also said the LeT is actively participating in operations against security forces.
The authorities in Islamabad, however, believe that it was all part of anti-Pakistan defamation campaign in which some Afghan officials having their tilt towards India, were actively involved.
A diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity that the recent border feud between Pakistan and Afghanistan over a renovation of a border gate in Mohmand Agency was also result of some misunderstanding created by one such security official of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. That official, he said, harboured anti-Islamabad feelings and had a soft corner for New Delhi.
Nonetheless, he said Pakistani officials would probe the matter of LeT presence in Afghanistan on their own and for that intelligence work would be done in different Pakistani regions to dig out whether people affiliated with LeT could have gone across the border to attack NATO and Afghan forces in the neighbouring state.
The reported arrest of LeT commander in Afghanistan also echoed in the Foreign Office on Friday as questions were asked from the spokesman, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, about the press reports that emanated from Kabul in this connection.
To one such query, Aizaz said, “We do not respond to any allegation with a counter allegation. For us, the most important thing is the peace process in Afghanistan. We are convinced that peace and stability in Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and the region, and we will continue to facilitate the peace process in every possible way.”
He also said Afghan authorities had not formally contacted Pakistani government on that issue.