RAWALPINDI: President Mohammad Ayub Khan is to pay a two-day visit to Afghanistan on January 1 and 2 in response to an invitation extended to him by King Zahir Shah and received here earlier this week.

Considerable significance is being attached to this visit which comes before the Tashkent summit talks between President Ayub and Premier Shastri of India and also the projected two-hour visit of Prime Minister Shastri to Kabul on his way to Tashkent.

During his stay in Kabul as guest of the Afghan King President Ayub will have talks with the monarch and the Prime Minister of Afghanistan who had Ambassadorial assignments in Pakistan before the assumption of his present office in his own country. The visit of President Ayub would be a part of his tour of the Muslim countries to thank the various Governments and Heads of State for their understanding and support to Pakistan during the 17-day conflict with India.

President Ayub is expected to apprise the Afghan King and the Government of the situation arising out of the events which had culminated in the Indian aggressive attack on Pakistan.

Afghanistan has always supported Pakistan on Kashmir and has repeatedly reiterated her support for the right of self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies,] the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh dictator, Gowalkar, has said that there can be no peace in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent until Pakistan is destroyed, according to a report in the “Organiser” of Delhi.

The “Organiser” quoted the Fascist Hindu organisation chief as having said in a speech at Udaipur: “So long as the unnatural division of the country remains, there are no prospects of peace. This partition, therefore, must end,” he added.

He said the Indian Muslims were a “unique phenomenon” inasmuch as “they were not accepting the Hindu way of life”.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2015