Fazl set to embark on visit to Afghanistan today

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is set to embark on his maiden visit to Afghanistan in nearly 10 years tomorrow (Sunday), sources told Geo News.

The senior politician has on the visit’s agenda the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Pak-Afghan bilateral relationship, the sources said. Interim Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Sardar Ahmed Jan Shakib on December 16 met the senior politician and invited him to visit Afghanistan. Later, Taliban government’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Fazl’s upcoming visit. 

This will be Fazl’s first visit since the Taliban takeover of the war-torn country following the United States withdrawal in 2021. Fazl first visited Afghanistan in 2013 during the government of former president Hamid Karzai. The sources said that former member of the National Assembly Jamaluddin Mehsood will accompany the JUIF chief on the trip. Continuous use of Afghan soil against Pakistan, an issue that Islamabad has time and again raised before the Taliban-led Afghan administration, will also be discussed during the visit, sources added. Speaking on Geo News programme “Jirga”, which will be aired tomorrow, Fazl said that he has the government’s mandate for the Afghanistan visit. 

“I believe in negotiations but one can move towards a comprehensive strategy only by looking at the ground realities for talks with TTP,” Fazl said. The visit comes at a point when ties between the two countries have gone sour in the backdrop of a spike in terror incidents in Pakistan, mostly claimed by the TTP.

Fazl has expressed grave concern over the peace and security situation in the country after his party came under attack thrice in the last six months due to being in the crosshairs of banned outfits over the years.