ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Pakistan on Monday hailed the completion of parliamentary elections in Afghanistan and assured Kabul of its support in reconstruction and consolidation of stability.

“The government of Pakistan welcomes the parliamentary elections held in Afghanistan yesterday. We are happy that the brotherly people of Afghanistan successfully chose a legislature,” Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan said at the outset of a weekly news briefing here.

“Pakistan sincerely wishes the Afghan people every success as they turn a new page in their history,” he said, adding that completion of the electoral process in the country was a big step forward on the road to peace and stability, national reconstruction and development.

The spokesman was confident that bilateral relations between the two countries would continue to strengthen in the days ahead.

He maintained that the enthusiastic participation of the Afghan people in the polls reflected a very positive social and democratic sense. “It marked a reaffirmation of the Afghan people’s commitment to democracy which they had earlier displayed during the presidential elections held in October 2004,” he said.

Recounting that Pakistan extended full cooperation to the Afghan government in the maintenance of peace and security during the polls, deploying a record number of troops on the Pak-Afghan border for that purpose, he said: “We are happy that, like the Afghan presidential elections, the parliamentary polls were held largely peacefully and the threats to derail them did not materialise.”

Regretting the few incidents of violence that caused loss of precious lives in some areas, spokesman Naeem Khan said Pakistan strongly condemned such acts of violence.—Q.A.