ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday have reached a historicmilestone in reducing the bilateral mistrust between the two brother Muslimstates.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have finalised the Afghanistan Pakistan ActionPlan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) envisaging six working groups.
The finalisation came in the 4th meeting held at the Foreign Office betweenthe Afghan delegation, led by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat KhalilKarzai and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.
“APAPPS provides a framework to strengthen mutual trust and deepeninteraction in all spheres of bilateral engagements. It is also a mechanismfor finding solutions to bilateral areas of concern,” a joint statementfrom the Foreign Office said, but there were no details either about themeeting itself or the way forward.
Last month in a meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi andPresident Ashraf Ghani in Kabul, both sides agreed on seven key principlesto operationalize working groups under a bilateral peace plan, the ForeignOffice said Sunday. A seven-point action plan for peace and reconciliationunder the APAAPS was agreed upon.
According to the agreed principles, Pakistan would support the Afghan-ledand Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process to bring peace toAfghanistan while both sides would take action against fugitives andirreconcilable elements that pose a threat to either country.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also agreed to avoid territorial and airviolations of each other’s territory. The leadership of both countries alsoagreed to avoid a public blame game and use the plan’s cooperationmechanisms to respond to any mutual issues and concerns.
Working groups will be established to implement the agreed principles whileboth sides will also nominate “liaison officers” for coordination andsupervision, the statement added. Both sides agreed that effective and fullimplementation of APAPPS would contribute towards the common objectives ofeliminating terrorism and achieving peace, stability, prosperity anddevelopment of the people of the two countries.
Pakistan maintains that only a military path couldn’t bring peace andstability in Afghanistan, but an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace processalone will ensure peace. In February, Hekmat Khalil Karzai led thehigh-level delegation, to Islamabad, comprising Afghan civilian andmilitary officials, including Director General Military Operations, anddeputy chief of National Directorate of Security (NDS).