ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has written a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif in which parliamentary dialogues between both countries have been suggested.
According to reports, PM Nawaz has forwarded Ashraf Ghani’s request to Speaker National Assembly (NA) Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and foreign office. According to reports, the speaker has already started consulting parliamentary parties over the proposal.
It has also been informed that a parliamentary delegation along with officials of foreign office will visit Afghanistan soon to normalise the circumstances, and to reduce tension between both countries.
Of late bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan nosedived after several terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Islamabad has been vocal about certain militant groups, which escaped military operations in Pakistan, having safe hideouts in Afghanistan. Kabul, on the other hand, believes the Afghan Taliban have sanctuaries in Pakistan.
The border crossings between the two hyphenated neighbours were closed on February 16 following a string of deadly bombings killed and maimed dozens of people across the country. Pakistani officials say Jamaatul Ahrar – the group that claimed credit for the grisly violence – is operating from safe havens in Afghanistan.
The border closure left hundreds of thousands of people and container trucks loaded with trade goods to Afghanistan stranded at the two major crossings of Torkham and Chaman.
Later, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took the decision of reopening its border ‘as a goodwill gesture’ and hoped the Afghan government would take steps required to address ‘the reasons’ that triggered the border closure.
“We have taken this decision on humanitarian grounds,” Premier Sharif said in a statement issued from his office. He ordered reopening of the border citing ‘centuries-old’ religious, cultural and historic links.
“Despite the fact that those involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan have a connection with anti-Pakistan elements in Afghanistan, the closure of the border between the two countries, having centuries old religious, cultural and historic relations, is against the economic and public interests,” he said in the statement.
