Pakistan, Afghanistan expected to restore joint peace efforts at Turkey summit

Pakistan, Afghanistan expected to restore joint peace efforts at Turkey summit

The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan has said that restoring the peace efforts with their war- ravaged neighbors, Afghanistan will be on the agenda when President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari will meet with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at a trilateral
summit to be held on November 1 in Istanbul.

Afghanistan had suspended the joint peace and reconciliation efforts with Pakistan since the tragic murder of the Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani alleging that the bomber had come from the southwestern city of Pakistan,
Quetta. Pakistan officials have been denying any involvement in Rabbanai’s assassination and have assured complete cooperation in the investigations.

It would be the first time that both the leaders will be meeting after Rabbani’s murder. It would be a good opportunity for both the countries to revive the joint reconciliation process as well as the high level contacts

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tehmina Janjua told the media reporters that the agenda of Zardari-Karzai meeting will include peace, stability and reconciliation in Afghanistan and economic cooperation for Afghanistan.

"Pakistan attaches great importance to the various Trilateral, Quadrilateral and other processes relating to Afghanistan and will continue to contribute constructively to all endeavours and initiatives in this regard," said Tehmina Janjua.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan had launched a two-tier joint Peace and Reconciliation Commission in April earlier this year at the level of heads of the states and government as well as senior officials.

The Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was due to travel to Kabul for the joint commission meeting but the Afghan government canceled the scheduled visit following Rabbani’s murder.

The trilateral summit will be followed by Istanbul international conference on Afghanistan aim of committing to a stable and independent Afghanistan and discussing regional economic cooperation. Foreign Ministers of fourteen countries – including Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Russia Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and India – are expected to take part in the conference.

Pakistani President Zardari will leave for Turkey later on Sunday and the trilateral summit is scheduled to be held on Nov. 1.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2079

Posted by Asma Rafique on Oct 30 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry