Afghan ministry summons Pak envoy for third time

KABUL: Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador for third time in less than two weeks as persistent artillery shelling left at least four children dead in eastern Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan in a statement said that Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain was summoned this afternoon to lodge a protest regarding the shelling on Khas Kunar, Dara-e-Shali, Sarkano, Dara-e-Noli, Shadi Khel, and Dara-e-Shongri areas of Kunar.

The statement further added that four children lost their lives in the shelling and the Pakistani Army helicopters breached the Afghan airspace by hovering over certain areas in Khas Kunar district.

The head of the first political secretariat Musa Arefi lodged a protest with the Pakistani ambassador and asked him to forward strong protest of the Afghan authorities to relevant Pakistani authorities.

The Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan was summoned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan on Sunday regarding the persistent artillery shelling in eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Local officials in Kunar said Sunday that the artillery shelling resumed late on Saturday days after it was halted. The officials further added that the shelling did not result in casualties of the local residents but hundreds of people were forced to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, a senior Afghan Interior Ministry official alleged that a terror attack last month that killed six Emirati diplomats in Kandahar was planned in Pakistan. “The attack was planned in Maulvi Ahmad madrissa in Chaman, Quetta,” Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior, told Voice of America.

The United Arab Emirates ambassador to Afghanistan died of wounds sustained in the bomb attack in Kandahar last month that also killed five others. The diplomats were expected to open a number of UAE-backed projects as part of an aid programme in Afghanistan. The Taliban denied carrying out the bombing, saying the attack was a result of “internal local rivalry”.

VOA said 30,000 madaris operate across Pakistan, most of them legal and adhering strictly to religious teaching, the report said. Meanwhile, a contract worth $113 million for Ghazni-Kandahar power project was signed between the state power company, Da Breshna Sherkat, and an Indian firm, KEC International.

The contract was signed in ARG Presidential Palace by the two parties and in the presence of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra and other high level officials.

According to the Afghan officials, the project is part of the 500kv Turkmenistan power project and will include a 220kv transmission line from Ghazni to southern Kandahar province. Da Breshna Sherkat, Chief Executive Qudratullah Delawari said the project would be built with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development.

Delawari further added that five substations each in Qarabagh, Moqor, Shahjoi, Qalat and East of Kandahar would also be built once the project of the transmission line was completed. The Afghan government has stepped up efforts to execute key infrastructure projects including power transmission lines. Earlier, a contract was signed for the transmission of 300MW electricity line from the northern Doshi to central Bamyan province.