Islamabad decides against lodging protest with Kabul

KABUL on Monday decided to only share evidence with the Afghan government and not to lodge a strong protest over the brazen militant attack in Peshawar, a Pakistani newspaper reported.

The Express Tribune quoted sources privy to a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying that Pakistan’s protest with Afghanistan over the Badhber attack would be more harmful than beneficial due to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s weak writ.

The high-level meeting reviewed the overall security situation in Pakistan, with particular reference to the terrorist attack on Pakistan Air Force (PAF) camp in Badhaber which killed 29 people.

The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that Presient Ghani’s regime was “very weak” and it was not in Pakistan’s interest to suspend its relations with Afghanistan over members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hiding in Afghanistan.

Pakistan maintains that the attackers of Badhaber had come from Afghanistan and the attack was planned and coordinated from the neighboring country.

National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz said on Sunday Islamabad will share the evidence with Afghan authorities. Aziz’s comments came a day after Kabul denied that the attack, which left 30 air force and army officials dead on Friday, was launched from Afghan soil.

Maj Gen Asim Bajwa, director general of Pakistani military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), had said on Friday that the attack was planned in and controlled from Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Omar Mansoor had used his Afghan number to speak to the media in Pakistan to claim responsibility for the attack. He also appeared in a video along with a group of gunmen who, he said, were sent to launch the attack.

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Major Gen Aamir Riaz, Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) Major Gen Nadeem Zaki attended the meeting with Nawaz.

The meeting also discussed border management strategy and effective implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) in order to curb terrorism.

Later, Aziz told to a private TV channel that initial investigation into the attack on PAF camp had proved terrorists’ contacts within Afghanistan. The evidence would be shared with Afghan authorities, he said.

The Afghan government in a statement strongly rejected as baseless the claims that the attack on PAF camp in Peshawar was planned and controlled from Afghanistan.

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