TORKHAM: Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has criticized the Indian media for making a hue and cry about Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Faiz Hameed’s recent visit to Kabul.
The minister expressed his views while talking to journalists at Torkham Terminal, where he paid a visit to review the current security arrangements owing to evolving regional situation.
“Indian media was lamenting about ISI Director General’s tour of Afghanistan as if people from the US, Britain and other foreign countries have not visited Afghanistan”, the minister added.
He further slammed India, saying that it had suffered humiliation all over the world after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. “New Delhi had established 60 training camps in Afghanistan to carry out its subversive activities against Pakistan,” he claimed.
The minister also asserted that India trained Afghanistan’s intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) to carry out subversive activities against Pakistan and create instability in the region.
Referring to the Taliban takeover, the minister said that no one was expecting the Taliban to take over Afghanistan so soon, a feat that has shaken world politics.
He maintained that Pakistan would soon escape the global pressure it is currently facing. “Change is coming, and soon this region will be important, with a new bloc potentially forming. Pakistan will play an important role in the region”, the minister predicted.
“Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Turkey will bring change to this region”, Rashid claimed. He emphasized that stability in Afghanistan is important for stability in Pakistan.
“Their stability is our stability, and their development is our development. If the situation improves in Afghanistan, there will be improvement everywhere,” the interior minister added.
Rashid reiterated that Pakistan played a key role for peace in Afghanistan and helped evacuate 10,000 people from Afghanistan. “No Afghan refugee, however, came to Pakistan,” he highlighted.
“Afghanistan is responsible for their side of the border. We hope that the Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan”, he added. Fence installation work at the Pak-Afghan border was 97% complete, Rashid informed.
