KARACHI, Oct 8: Afghan refugees living in Karachi will remain peaceful in their protest against US military operations in Afghanistan.

Speaking to Dawn, Afghan consul-general Rahmatullah Kakazada said that Afghans had remained peaceful and will not do anything which might disturb peace in Karachi.

He said that recently the Afghan authorities in Pakistan held out an assurance to Islamabad that Afghans would not be violent should the US begins strikes on Kabul.

He said the Afghans were living in a miserable condition far from their homeland in various parts of the country, including Karachi. “They will remain peaceful, I assure you,” he said.

Answering a question, he said his office or the Afghan embassy in Islamabad had not received any complaint from Pakistan authorities about refugees conduct in the country.

He said that the US and its allies had been bombing various parts of his country and in the Sunday’s strike about eight people had been reported killed as a result of bombings.

Besides Uzbekistan, he said, the US and its allies were launching attacks from ships stationed close to Gwadar and Pasni in Balochistan. “I don’t know whether they (the warships) are in Pakistan’s territorial waters or not, but they are near Gwadar and Pasni,” he said.

When told that president Gen Musharraf has made it clear in his morning’s press conference that Pakistan has not given its bases for launching strikes and had only provided airspace, the Afghan diplomat did not offer any answer.

However, he added: “Whatever happening in this world, including Afghanistan, will become a part of history tomorrow and every individual and every nation will be remembered for their role in the annals of the history,” he concluded.