PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief and Senator Sirajul Haq on Friday claimed that India was using Afghan soil to destabilise Pakistan.

Insisting that India and Afghanistan have friendlier relations due to Pakistan’s failed foreign policy, he urged the federal government to ensure Islamabad’s better ties Kabul and Tehran.

The JI chief said this while chairing a meeting called at the party’s provincial secretariat here to discuss the situation in Fata, said a statement.

Party general secretary Liaquat Baloch, provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and senior leaders attended the meeting.

Mr Siraj chief said he was deeply concerned about the increasing influence of India in Afghanistan and that India was using Afghan territory to destabilise Pakistan ideologically, economically and politically.

He added that Islamabad’s flawed foreign policy provided opportunity to New Delhi to exploit the situation against Pakistan.

The JI chief urged the federal government to review its foreign policy and improve the country’s relations with its Muslim neighbours, especially Afghanistan.

He said a volatile situation in Afghanistan was directly affecting Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Siraj called for early merger of Fata with KP saying the people of tribal areas had been denied fundamental rights for the last 70 years.

He said militancy had damaged infrastructure in Fata during the last decade to the misery of local residents.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017