Afghan govt responsible for keeping Daesh in check in Afghanistan: FM Qureshi

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Saturday said peace in Afghanistan was necessary for regional peace and Pakistan was consulting the Afghan neighbouring countries for permanent peace for development, prosperity and uplift of the war-torn country.

Speaking at a press conference at Raza Hall, he said he briefed the Chinese authorities over Dasu terrorist incident, and both the countries agreed on making joint efforts to foil sabotage missions against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is the project of regional development.

 "Nobody wants ISIS to grow. They [the Afghan government] don't want it, the Taliban don't want it, Iran doesn't want it, [Afghanistan's] neighbours don't want it and the international community doesn't want it," the foreign minister said.

In response to a query that Moscow says Daesh militants were arriving in Afghanistan from Iraq, Libya and Syria for terrorism, he said it was the responsibility of the Afghan government to monitor the militants and keep them from growing in Afghanistan.

"If they are shifting from Iraq and Syria, whose responsibility should it be to check them? It's the Afghan government's!"

"They are shifting to Afghanistan's sovereign territory. Who should be keeping an eye on them? Who should be monitoring them? It is the Afghan government's responsibility," the foreign minister said.

"I hope they will not neglect their responsibility," he added. 

He was asked if Taliban take over Afghanistan and warlords continue insurgency, then what would be the future of CPEC. The FM said some people were conspiring against CPEC, and Dasu terrorism incident against Chinese engineers was part of that conspiracy. However, he claimed that no group could harm CPEC projects.

Qureshi said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had taken concrete measures for the establishment of south Punjab province. He said construction work had been started at the south Punjab secretariat, and nobody would be able to rollback the initiative of ultimately formation of the south Punjab province. Earlier, he presided over the District Coordination Committee meeting held at the DC office to review the activation of the South Punjab Civil Secretariat.

Punjab Minister for Energy Dr Akhtar Malik said the cabinet committee would soon approve all the powers including the Rules of Business and organise the sub-secretariat, which would have positive results.

Correction: An earlier version of this story had misquoted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as saying that the Taliban would not allow ISIS to penetrate in Afghanistan. The error is regretted and the story has been updated to more accurately reflect the foreign minister's statement on the matter.