ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned on Wednesday the Afghan ambassador here to protest over a border clash in which three Frontier Constabulary men were killed earlier this week.
Afghanistan’s Ambassador Janan Mosazai was summoned by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry a day after Pakistani envoy in Kabul Abrar Hussain was summoned by the Afghan foreign ministry over the same incident in which they claim that eight of their border guards had been killed.
The border incident had happened on Aug 16 and 17.
Foreign Secretary Chaudhry also protested over the allegations being levelled against Pakistan by the Afghan government.
“A strong protest was also lodged on cross-border violations from the Afghan side on 16 and 17 August 2015, which resulted in death of three FC personnel and injuries to two others,” a FO statement said.
“The Afghan ambassador was conveyed that, as a matter of policy, Pakistani authorities do not initiate fire and return fire only in self-defence,” it added.
About the allegations being levelled against Pakistan, the Afghan envoy was told that such things undercut mutual confidence and affect ties.
President Ashraf Ghani, after following a policy of improving ties with Pakistan for months, last week lashed out at Pakistan for not doing enough to uproot Taliban bases from it soil.
“Pakistan still remains a venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us messages of war. The incidents of the past two months in general and the recent days in particular show that the suicide training camps and the bomb making facilities used to target and murder our innocent people still operate, as in the past, in Pakistan,” he had said after high-profile attacks in Kabul. Similar allegations were also levelled by Afghan intelligence agency.
In Kabul, Pakistani Ambassador Abrar Hussain was summoned to meet the deputy foreign minister.
He was told that eight Afghan border policemen were killed in the Kunar province due to the alleged Pakistani shelling, which is also said to have damaged property.
Ambassador Abrar was warned that recurrence of such incidents could harm ties.
Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015
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