Pakistan summons Afghan envoy over cross-border firing

Pakistan summoned Afghan envoy over cross-border firing which killed five Pakistan nationals in Balochistan province on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said.

Officials earlier said that Afghan border security guards opened fire in Qamar Din Karez area of Pakistan along the Afghan border and killed five people and injured several others.

“The Afghan Charge d’ Affaires was summoned  to the Foreign Office and a strong protest was lodged over the indiscriminate firing today by the Afghan Border Police near village Godwana, Zhob district, which resulted in the martyrdom of five innocent Pakistanis,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that serious concern of the Government of Pakistan was conveyed to the Afghan diplomat.

“The Afghan Government was asked to hold an inquiry into the incident, adhere to the border coordination and cooperation mechanisms, and prevent the recurrence of such incidents, which are detrimental to the friendly relations and undermine goodwill between the two brotherly countries,” the spokesman said in a statement. 

Afghan officials have been quoted as saying that those killed were Taliban militants, the claim rejected by the locals.  

Reports from the region said that Pakistani tribesmen living along the Afghan border protested against what they called indiscriminate firing by the Afghan security forces.

Both countries, which have over 2000 joint border, accuse each other of cross-border shelling. 

The Wednesday’s incident occurred just three weeks after the visit to Islamabad by Afghan President Hamid Karzai during which both countries agreed to work for the Afghan reconciliation. 

Pakistan has announced to release Taliban second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to help in the Afghan peace process.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=41689

Posted by Tahir Khan on Sep 18 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.