ADDU (Maldives): Although Afghanistan agreed to resume trilateral dialogue with Pakistan and Iran, President Hamid Karzai during a meeting here with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Saarc summit called for Pakistan’s meaningful cooperation in investigating the assassination of Afghan peace jirga chief Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The third trilateral summit meeting planned for October was postponed amid tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the wake of the assassination of Prof Rabbani in a suicide bomb attack on Sept 20.
According to a member of the Pakistani delegation, President Karzai adopted a rather aggressive posture at the meeting held at the Shangrila resort in Addu and “bombarded us with a number of demands laced with accusations”.
His first demand was that all negotiations between the two countries would have to start from the crime scene where Prof Rabbani had been killed.
The Afghan president also alleged that Pakistan was not doing enough to stop cross-boarder attacks (meaning Taliban attacks) which he said reflected poorly on his government’s performance in the eyes of the world.
Talking to Dawn, a federal minister said: “The meeting took place in a highly tense atmosphere as the Afghan president was not in a mood to listen to anyone.”
He said: “Frankly speaking, Prime Minister Gilani was taken aback because he had expected a friendly gesture from the Afghan president.”
After listening to President Karzai in his usual calm manner, the prime minister asked him to change his hostile public posture towards Pakistan -- his acrimonious statements since Prof Rabbani’s killing.
Prime Minister Gilani said he had gone to Kabul to offer condolences over the death of Prof Rabbani because he understood the seriousness of the matter, but in response the Afghan government started pointing fingers at Pakistan.
“The prime minister told President Karzai that leaders from both sides had to understand each other’s sensitivities and start working to find some common ground,” the minister said.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said the Afghan leader had a number of reservations, but Prime Minister Gilani asked him to come up with whatever framework he had in his mind to go ahead with the peace process in the region.
Talking to reporters at the villa where the meeting was held, Prime Minister Gilani said the government would support any process of political reconciliation initiated and owned by the Afghan government.
About the revival of a joint commission set up by the two countries that got derailed after Prof Rabbani’s killing, he said the two chief executives had been in contact on the issue.
When asked about the strategic agreement signed by Afghanistan and India, he said the two countries had the sovereign right to reach such pacts.
When the same question was posed to President Karzai, he said Pakistan was an important country of the region and “we hope the agreement between India and Afghanistan will be beneficial to peace in the region”.
He said Prof Rabbani’s assassination was a major setback for Afghanistan and he hoped Pakistan would cooperate in investigation into how and why the incident had taken place.
Prime Minister Gilani said his government was willing to offer every possible help in the investigation.
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