Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Adela Raz, wrote to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), raising a complaint regarding Pakistan’s “cross-border rocket firing” in Afghanistan. The letter said that the “issue of violations of Afghan territory by Pakistani military forces has continued despite numerous appeals made to the government of Pakistan, bilaterally and through other measures to cease their illegal and provocative activities in our sovereign territory”.
The letter further said, “The government of Afghanistan expresses, once again, its strong condemnation of Pakistan’s failure to adhere to its obligations under the principles of the charter of the United Nations, including article 2, as well as the international law and international humanitarian law.” Adela Raz said that while Afghanistan’s officials are attempting to resolve the issue through diplomatic negotiations with Pakistan, the failure of such talks would force Afghanistan to “call on the Security Council to take measures and actions necessary to bring about an end to violations”.
The letter comes following an attack by Pakistani armed forces in the Sarakano and Asad Abad districts in the North-eastern region of Kunar, which borders Pakistan. As per local reports, the incident led to the death of four members of the Afghani National Defence and six civilians, including two women. Additionally, the attacks caused severe devastation of civilian properties in the region, too. Further, on July 25, Afghanistan’s forces encountered 31 terrorists in Khogyani district in Afghanistan, out of which 13 were Pakistani nationals. Similarly, Afghani armed forces recovered Pakistani ID from terrorists killed in an attack in Kandahar.
In fact, recently, the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 monitoring committee, in its “26th report on the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning the ISIS, al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)”, reported that Pakistani nationals continue to spearhead Islamic State and Al Qaeda activities in South Asia. Further, it said that the “total number of Pakistani foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan … is estimated at between 6000 and 6500”.
The recent allegations of Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan come amidst the struggling peace talks between the Taliban and Afghani government. Pakistan has publicly come out in support of the Taliban in the past. This, along with Pakistan’s violent actions in Afghanistan, has previously raised several concerns from the Afghani government.
Afghanistan Writes to the UN Raising Concern About Cross-Border Attacks by Pakistan
The letter comes following attacks in Afghanistan by Pakistani forces leading to 10 deaths
July 27, 2020
SOURCE: REUTERS