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BEIJING: China on Tuesday announced it would not attend the regional security dialogue on Afghanistan to be hosted by India, days after Pakistan backed out of the moot.
“Due to scheduling reasons, it is inconvenient for China to attend the meeting,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing. “We have already given our reply to the Indian side,” he added.
According to a report by India Today, India invited Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, and all the central Asian nations to attend the ‘Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan’, scheduled to be held on 10th November.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the “high-level dialogue will review and deliberate upon measures to address relevant security challenges and support the people of Afghanistan in promoting peace, security and stability”.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf turned down India’s invitation to a conference on Afghanistan, saying, “I am not going. A spoiler cannot be a peacemaker”.
Moeed Yusuf regretted the international community’s silence over human rights violations and Indian state-sponsored terrorism in occupied Kashmir, and New Delhi’s expansionist vision that is leading the region nowhere.
Asked what hurdles Pakistan was facing in the region to achieve peace and progress, the security adviser said, “I think the region’s obstacles are in front of you, there is no need for debate on this.”
He said as long as India’s behaviour and ideology remain unchanged, the peace process in the region could not move forward. “The world has unfortunately kept its eyes closed and isn’t talking to India as it should,” he lamented.
He reiterated that engagement with Afghanistan was not a political matter for Pakistan but a humanitarian one and a matter of our national security.