ISLAMABAD, May 27:- Confirming the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour Pakistan has said that the US drone strike and the resulting death of Afghan Taliban leader has ‘undermined’ peace process.
All indicators confirm that the person killed in the drone strike was Mansour who was travelling on a fake identity, Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs told media persons on Thursday.
Aziz, who made an unusual appearance at the weekly Foreign Office briefing instead of FO spokesman, responded to the queries mostly focusing on the recent US drone strike.
He said Mansour’s body would not be handed over to anyone until
result of the DNA test, which would be available soon.
The adviser said the drone attack of May 21 had added to the complexity of the Afghan conflict. “We believe that this action has undermined the Afghan peace process,” he said.
“The drone action was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty as well as breach of the principles of the UN Charter… We have conveyed our serious concern to the US.”
Aziz said during the quadrilateral meeting of May 18, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China had agreed that politically negotiated settlement was the most viable option and had stressed for continued efforts to bring Taliban on the table. He regretted that “this understanding had not been respected”.
The adviser recalled that earlier in July 2015, talks were scuttled at a key stage when the issue of reduction in violence was to be discussed and mentioned that in less than a year peace process had been scuttled twice.
He said Pakistan was of the view that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and the use of force for past 15 years had failed to deliver peace.
“We believe this approach will further destabilise Afghanistan, which will have negative implications for the region, especially due to the presence of large number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.”
Sartaj Aziz emphasised that the drone strike had “damaged” the Afghan peace process and dismissed the impression that a few Taliban persons were a hurdle to negotiations. He clarified that Pakistani leadership was not taken onboard before the drone attack.
He said though the number of drone strikes had reduced in recent years, Pakistan was concerned over the two attacks in a year. This is not only a violation of the understanding, but would also affect the Pak-US relations, he said. On fate of QCG following the drone strike, he said it was premature to say any definite thing about it. He said effective border management was vital for checking the infiltrations across Pak-Afghan border and recalled that SOPs had been finalised with Afghanistan in 2012 urging Afghan government for cooperation.
He said presence of large number of Afghan refugees had become a “big security risk as the terrorists and militants use the camps as hideouts for their nefarious activities”. He asked the international community to take urgent measures for their repatriation.
Separately, Secretary Foreign Affairs Aizaz Chaudhry yesterday met with ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, China, and Turkey and took them into confidence over prevailing situation.
Chaudhry is understood to have sought diplomatic help from the friendly countries to convince the US against violating Pakistan’s sovereignty. Officials said Islamabad’s commitment to eliminate terrorism was also reiterated during the meetings.-Agencies
