Senate panel wants Afghan policy review

ISLAMABAD: Secretary Foreign Affairs Asad Majeed Thursday informed the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs that the Afghan government had conveyed to the Government of Pakistan that they had arrested one sniper involved in the recent assassination attempt on the Pakistani envoy in Kabul and an investigation into the incident was underway.

Chairing the committee at the Parliament House, Senator Farooq H Naek expressed reservations about the attack and said there was a dire need for Pakistan to revisit its policy towards Afghanistan.

“We are functioning as the spokesperson for Afghanistan, not India, in the world, but on the contrary, the Afghan government often opposes Pakistan and uses guns against us, which is unfortunate,” he said.

Asad Majeed said the Pakistani envoy was walking in the embassy yard when he came under attack.

He explained that eight sniper shots and 100 rounds of bullets were fired at a distance of 100 metres from the eighth floor of a building in the vicinity of the embassy.

“Thankfully, it was not a physical intrusion, and miraculously, the Pakistani ambassador remained safe,” he said, adding that the Afghan government had promised that the perpetrators of the crime would not be spared.

“The IS Khorasan has claimed responsibility for the incident,” he said, adding that Pakistan wanted peace in Afghanistan as peace and stability in Afghanistan were indispensable for Pakistan.

Additional DG FIA briefed the committee on the problems being faced by the Pakistani community living in Rwanda.

Naek expressed reservations about the harassment of Pakistani community living in Rwanda by FIA officials at airports during visits to Pakistan.

“The Pakistani community, on their way back to Rwanda, is being harassed by FIA officials at airports, contrary to the fact that Pakistanis have a visa-on-arrival facility. Such an attitude of the FIA is regrettable,” he said.

He handed over written complaints received from the Pakistani High Commission in Rwanda to the FIA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and asked for a detailed written reply to all the complaints in the next meeting.

The matter pertaining to the detail of number of Pakistani embassies, consulates and missions presently working abroad and the grade-wise details of each staff, including ambassadors and consulars working therein with the break-up belonging to minorities with particular reference to Balochistan domicile, raised by Senator Danesh Kumar was disposed of.