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ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday asserted that the fencing dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be resolved diplomatically, blaming “certain miscreants” for blowing such incidents out of proportion.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, the foreign minister acknowledged that there were “some complications” pertaining to the fencing of Pak-Afghan border, adding that the matter was being discussed with the Afghan Taliban government.
FM Qureshi made these remarks while responding to a question regarding a video circulating on social media purportedly showing Taliban fighters uprooting a portion of Pak-Afghan fence along their side of the border.
“We learned that such incidents occurred in the past few days and we have taken up the issue with the Afghan government at diplomatic level,” Qureshi said.
In a separate video that circulated last month on social media, Taliban soldiers were seen seizing spools of barbed wire. Afghan defence ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi had said Taliban forces stopped the Pakistani military from erecting what he called an “illegal” border fence.
Pakistan has fenced most of the 2,600km border despite protestations from Kabul, which has contested the British-era boundary demarcation that splits families and tribes on either side.
Pakistan’s successful foreign policy during last year
Talking to media today, the foreign minister also presented Year End Review of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Pakistan proactively and consistently advanced its diplomatic objectives on a range of diplomatic fronts, both bilaterally and multilaterally during the last year,” he added.
“We have consolidated friendships and further strengthened bilateral relations with major powers and key partners across the regions,” he said, adding, “We successfully and effectively put forward our perspective and narrative on major foreign policy issues including Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the situation in Afghanistan.”
Terming the year 2021 significant, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said several important developments and initiatives including Pakistan’s role for peace in Afghanistan, shift from geopolitics to geo-economics, Vision Central Asia, Engage Africa, public diplomacy and digital diplomacy have helped advance Pakistan’s foreign policy priorities.
Qureshi said during the last year, we had eighty-five bilateral exchanges with over fifty countries. “There were 35 senior leadership visits to Pakistan, 32 senior leadership visits by Pakistan, over 50 high level multilateral engagements, 25 public diplomacy engagements at Foreign Minister level and 20 economic diplomacy engagements,” he added.
He said five Pakistan sponsored or cosponsored resolutions were adopted by the United Nations. He said seventy years celebrations were held with six countries.
Qureshi said Pakistan played an important facilitating role for peace in Afghanistan and then for evacuation of foreigners from Kabul. Reiterating commitment for such a role in future, he said Pakistan has pledged five billion rupees humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people.
He said the OIC countries also agreed on provision of humanitarian assistance to the Afghans in the recently held OIC Council of Foreign Ministers conference in Islamabad.
