ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani yesterday condemned Afghan President Hamid Karzai for alleging that Islamabad’s intelligence services were involved in a string of recent attacks.
Karzai on Monday directly accused Pakistani military intelligence of orchestrating a wave of bloody unrest by militants, including an attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, that has left scores dead.
Gilani “has strongly condemned the Afghan president’s statement that Pakistan is involved in a series of terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan,” a Pakistani government statement said.
“Afghan leaders should not give such statements as it will hamper the development process in the region,” it quoted Gilani as saying before a Cabinet meeting in Islamabad.Violence has spiraled in Afghanistan in the past fortnight, including a militant assault on a NATO outpost Sunday that killed nine American soldiers and a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy on July 7 that killed more than 40.
Karzai has stepped up allegations against Pakistan in recent months, saying in June that Afghanistan would be justified in attacking militant sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of their porous border. Karzai said in a statement on Monday that “the murder, killing, destruction, dishonoring and insecurity in Afghanistan is carried out by the intelligence administration of Pakistan, its military intelligence institutions.”
“We know who kills innocent people,” the Afghan president said.
“We have told the government of Pakistan and the world and from now on it will be pronounced by every member of the Afghan nation.”
However, Gilani said Islamabad had “time and again declared on all forums that a stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and entire region. “Pakistan has provided all-out support for the establishment of a stable government in Afghanistan,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
— With input from agencies
