Pakistan rejects India-Afghanistan joint statement over Kashmir claim

Pakistan strongly condemned, on Saturday, the India-Afghanistan joint statement that references Jammu and Kashmir as part of India, calling it a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the legal status of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the joint statement is “highly insensitive to the sacrifices and sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.”

Afghan Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived Thursday in India for a week of talks. It is the Taliban’s highest-level visit to the country since seizing power in 2021.

Pakistan also strongly rejected the Afghan foreign minister’s assertion that terrorism is Pakistan’s internal problem, adding that Pakistan has repeatedly shared details regarding the presence of terrorist elements operating from Afghan soil against Pakistan, with support from elements within Afghanistan.

It added that deflecting responsibility for controlling terrorism toward Pakistan “cannot absolve the Interim Afghan Government of its obligations towards ensuring peace and stability in the region and beyond.”

The statement also highlighted that, in the spirit of good neighborliness and Islamic brotherhood, Pakistan has generously hosted nearly four million Afghans for over four decades.

“With peace gradually returning to Afghanistan, it is time for unauthorized Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan to return to their country,” it said.

“Like all other countries and in line with international norms and practices, Pakistan has the right to regulate the presence of foreign nationals residing inside its territory.”

“Pakistan will continue to extend humanitarian support to the people of Afghanistan,” the statement added.

The foreign ministry stressed that while Pakistan remains desirous of seeing a peaceful, stable, regionally connected, and prosperous Afghanistan, the government has the responsibility to take all possible measures for the safety and security of its people.

“Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to play its role in taking concrete measures to prevent its territory from being used by Fitna-e-Khawarij and Fitna-e-Hindustan terrorist elements against Pakistan,” the statement said.

Pakistan will take ‘all necessary steps’

Pakistan’s military, on Friday, called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government to prevent its soil from being used for terrorism, following reports of cross-border strikes that sent shockwaves through Kabul a day earlier.

Responding to a journalist’s question, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reiterated that Pakistan would act to protect its people.

“I have made it clear that Afghanistan is being used as a base for terrorism, and there is proof of this,” he said. “The Pakistani people must be protected, and we will take the necessary steps to ensure their safety.”