Afghanistan soil being used against Pakistan: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 3 (ANI): Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that despite the agreement, Afghanistan's soil is being used against his country, Geo News reported.

During an interview with a private news channel, Asif said that the Afghanistan government had promised Pakistan that their territory would never be used against their country.

"The Pakistani government is in constant touch with Afghanistan in connection with border violations," Geo News quoted Asif.

He also said that former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and General (retd) Faiz Hameed briefed the National Assembly about the background of the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship and negotiation and their subsequent developments. However, it did not produce any positive results, he said.

Asif also pointed out that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for 58 per cent of all terrorist incidents in Pakistan, with some of them also occurring in Balochistan. Meanwhile, in Sindh and Punjab, these incidents are few and far between, he added.

Earlier, the Dailytimes reported citing the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) report that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces had suffered close to 376 terror attacks the previous year.

The report claimed that the majority of the attacks were carried out by banned terror outfits such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Daish (Islamic State Khorasan) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province as a whole had an exponential surge in violence, with a corresponding rise in fatalities. Government officials, law enforcement officers, and civilians made up the majority of the victims of violence. According to the study, there were several foreigners among the civilian population.

According to the Center, after November 28 there was an extraordinary uptick in terrorist assaults in KP and Balochistan, with over twenty strikes occurring in only the month of December.

Meanwhile, during the interview, Asif asserted that he wonders how he [Bajwa] has anything to do with the [no-confidence] motion given the fact that it was produced in parliament. He called on Imran Khan to reform his behaviour, Geo News reported.

He continued to say, "How many times did Imran Khan, while he was at the helm of affairs, invite Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to the National Security Committee (NSC)?"

"Imran Khan is levelling allegations against everyone, including the United States and national institutions," he said. "On the other hand, we will knock at every door to achieve unanimity on national issues," he said.

Friendly countries want to assist Pakistan and encourage the country to remain in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, he remarked. Accordingly, the government has decided to stay in the IMF programme, Geo News quoted Asif as saying.

"We will have to take tough decisions. We will ensure that the middle-class and low-income sections of society are not overly burdened," he vowed. (ANI)