KABUL – Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s office on Saturday reacted torecent remarks by President Ashraf Ghani and other government officials onthe death of a senior member of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) inPakistan, saying that it is an internal matter for Pakistan.
The objections were first made by President Ghani as he said in a tweetthat “the Afghan government has serious concerns about the violenceperpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Balochistan”, TOLO News has reported.
His remarks were responded by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mahmood Qureshiwho tweeted that “we reject the tweet by President Ashraf Ghani. Suchirresponsible statements are only gross interference. Afghan leadershipneeds to focus on long-standing serious grievances of the Afghan people”.
Ghani also tweeted that “we believe it is the moral responsibility of everygovernment to support civil activities that take a stand against theterrorism and extremism that plagues and threatens our region andcollective security. Otherwise there could be long-standing negativeconsequences”.
The tweets were made on February 7.
Arman Loni was one of the leaders of the PTM who was killed after returningfrom a sit-in protest outside Loralai Press Club in Baluchistan on February2, reports suggest. The sit-in protest had been staged in protest against arecent terror attack. Pakistan media reports stated Loni had been sittingin a park after the protest when police arrested him. Loni had attended thesit-in protest along with his sister, Wranga Loni.
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Chief Executive Abdullah’s office said there is a needfor focusing on addressing problems in Afghanistan rather than raising suchissues.
“It is an internal matter of Pakistan. Afghanistan is not in a positionwhich will interfere in others’ affairs. We have many problems and issuesinside our country and it is better to address them first,” said MujibRahman Rahimi, spokesman for Chief Executive Abdullah said.
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