General Votel brought up the issue of the need of strengthening border management including measures to coordinate military operations along both the sides of the border.
“The Afghan Charge d’ Affaires was summoned to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a strong protest was lodged with the Afghan government, asking it to take effective action against terrorist sanctuaries. Pakistani security personnel have been martyred by terrorists operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. We have also asked Afghan government to share the investigation with us about the Shahadat of the Pakistani diplomatic official in Jalalabad last week,” spokesman at the Foreign Office stated.
He also pointed to the report of US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) which confirmed that more than 43 percent of Afghan territory is not under control of the Afghan government.
“This is alarming as it provides opportunity for all kinds of terrorist groups to use these as sanctuaries for terrorist activities. Afghanistan neighbours including Pakistan are seriously affected by this situation”, said the spokesman.
Breaking his silence on the continued attempts by Baloch terrorist groups whose advertisements this time on London’s red buses, are “impinging of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, the spokesman said, “This is a matter of deep concern for us, and also a violation of UN Charter which is completely unacceptable.”
He asked the British government not to allow such sinister campaigns on its soil as it is a friendly country.
On Wednesday, British High Commissioner Thomas Drew in a statement had pleaded that his government “does not and cannot control advertising in Great Britain”. Maybe His Excellency was unaware that strangely enough on Thursday, according to media reports from London, The Transport for London (TfL) company has issued an apology to Pakistan over offensive advertising campaign across its network that targeted Pakistan’s sovereignty and said that such slogans would not be allowed in future.
“Our High Commission in London has made a fresh demarche to Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) regarding display of anti-Pakistan slogans on London buses. Separately, our Mission has taken up the matter with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), to stop the ongoing malicious campaign using billboards,” added the spokesman.