PESHAWAR, Nov 24: The Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, who returned from Afghanistan on Sunday after a three-day visit, has said that Afghan president Hamid Karzai believed that Pakistan is unable to effectively check infiltration of terrorists from its tribal areas to Afghanistan.
“He (Mr Karzai) is of the view that Pakistan has not been able to control infiltration of terrorists associated with Taliban,” said the ANP chief while quoting the Afghan resident.
Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, the ANP chief gave details of his party’s five-member team’s visit to Afghanistan. Afrasiyab Khattak and Farid Toofan, who accompanied the ANP chief to Afghanistan, were also present at the press conference.
President Karzai, said Mr Wali, appeared disturbed over Pakistan’s inability to effectively monitor and control infiltration of undesirable elements to inside Afghanistan from its tribal regions and parts of Balochistan bordering with Afghanistan.
“He said that Zhob and Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are the two trouble spots from where terrorists sneak into Afghanistan and the security forces on the other side of the border (Pakistan) keep looking as silent spectators when such elements are pushed back by Afghan security guards,” said ANP chief while quoting Mr Karzai.
Responding to a question about the possibility of resurfacing of the Pukhtunistan issue, he said that “politics of prediction is the work of Pir Pagara, not mine”.
However, he added, the ANP believed in federation and had a well-known and clear stand on it.
“We believe in federation and are a part of the federation,” said Mr Khan. “We just want our identity (renaming the Frontier province) and believe that federation should cater for the four main subjects and the remainders be left to provinces,” said Mr Khan.
In their separate meetings with the visiting ANP delegation, said Asfandyar Wali Khan, Afghan authorities including President Karzai, vice-president Amin Arsala, vice-president Karim Khalili, defence minister commander Fahim, foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah expressed the desire that Afghanistan wanted to live in peach and cohesion with Pakistan.
“They consider Pakistan as their home and we were unable to answer when said that why government of Pakistan’s policies towards Afghanistan do not in conformity with the attitude of people of Pakistan which they meted out to Afghan refugees during their stay in Pakistan during the prolonged war in Afghanistan,” said the ANP chief.
He said that Islamabad should honour Afghanistan’s offer of taking Pakistani prisoners — languishing in Afghan jails — back and called upon the masses to exert pressure on the government to take its citizens back from Afghanistan.
“Afghan president, in un-equivocal terms, told us that the officially made offer to Pakistan viz-a-viz giving its prisoners back to it has not been responded positively,” Asfandyar Wali said.
Claiming credit for the release of 50 Pakistani prisoners set free by Kabul on Sunday, Mr Khan thanked Afghan government for honouring request put forth by the ANP delegation during its meeting with him.
However, he took exception to the Pakistan’s Kabul-based diplomatic staff for, what he claimed, refusing to accept the batch of 30 Pakistanis taking the stand that if they were being released on the request of the ANP delegation.