Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry strongly rejected the allegations and called Rabbani “a great friend of Pakistan and widely respected in this country.”
The Pakistani statement said the so-called evidence given to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul is actually a confessional statement of an Afghan national Hamidullah Akundzadeh accused of master-minding the assassination.
Evidence shows that Rabbani's death last month "was plotted in Quetta and the person who carried out the suicide attack against Rabbani was a citizen of Pakistan," the statement said.
It added that the killer had been living in Chaman, a Pakistani town near Quetta.
Rabbani, chairman of President Hamid Karzai's High Peace Council, was killed by a turban suicide bomber at his home in Kabul on Sept. 20. He had thought that he was meeting a representative carrying a special message from the Taleban.
Karzai's government has been struggling to start talks with the Taleban in a bid to end the 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan but has made no meaningful progress.
Karzai's spokesman Siamak Herawi said Sunday that the president was reviewing his peace strategy, adding that he would reveal next steps "very soon."
Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Kabul on Sunday to condemn recent shelling of border towns by Pakistan Army and accusing its powerful spy agency of involvement in the assassination of Rabbani.
The protest comes amid heightened tensions between two neighbors, with Afghan officials blaming Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Taleban's senior leadership of plotting to kill Rabbani. Under tight security, the one-hour rally passed without any incidents. But protesters appeared angry and carried large banners with slogans as they changed "Death to Pakistan" and "Death to ISI."
"Pakistan and its ISI must stop interfering in Afghanistan. Our patience is running out," said Daoud Kodamani, a 22-year-old student. "Fighting our country's enemies is nothing new for Afghans and Pakistan is another enemy to fight with," he said. Many Afghans have long accused Pakistan and the ISI of backing insurgent groups to further Islamabad's own interests, which Pakistan denies.
Rabbani's killing was widely seen a major blow to the peace process and came amid worsening security in the country as NATO-led troops begin handing security responsibility to Afghan troops in preparation for full withdrawal from the country by Karzai hinted he had lost hope in pursuing peace talks with the Taleban, whose leadership council, or Shoura, is based in Quetta. Karzai said Afghanistan should be negotiating peace with Pakistan instead.
Afghan provincial officials say Pakistan's military had fired hundreds of rockets between Sept. 21 and Sept. 25 in eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces, which share a long border with lawless tribal areas inside Pakistan.
Although, the shelling did not cause major casualties, it followed more than a month of bombardments by Pakistan's military in June and July that Afghanistan said had killed 42 people.
