ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Saturday it was “looking into” reports of alleged action by Pakistani forces in the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Khost.
The Foreign Office’s statement came after an Afghan government official and a resident in Kunar province claimed that rockets fired by the Pakistani forces early Saturday left six people dead.
Provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal said, “Five children and a woman were killed and a man wounded.”
Ehsanullah, a resident of Shelton district where the alleged attack took place, said it was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft.
Another Afghan government official alleged that a pre-dawn bombardment was carried out in Afghanistan’s Khost province near the border with Pakistan.
The official said on condition of anonymity that “Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages” in Khost, adding that “there were casualties”.
An Afghan tribal elder from Khost, Gul Markhan, also spoke regarding the incident in Khost.
Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, has yet to respond to the allegations from the Afghan side. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), media wing of the Pakistan Army, too has not issued any statement on the issue yet.
According to an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Deputy Defence Minister Mullah Shirin Akhund met the Pakistani ambassador and “condemned the recent attacks on Khost and Kunar provinces, stressing prevention of such acts”.
“Minister Muttaqi said all military violations, including that in Khost and Kunar must be prevented as such acts deteriorate relations between the two countries, allowing antagonists to misuse the situation leading to undesired consequences,” the statement said.
It added the Pakistani envoy was given a strong demarche.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also condemned the alleged attacks.
“IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) calls on the Pakistani side not to test the patience of Afghans on such issues.”
1/2- The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns Pakistan's attacks on refugees in Khost and Kunar.
IEA calls on the Pakistani side not to test the patience of Afghans on such issues and not repeat the same mistake again otherwise it will have bad consequences.
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) April 16, 2022
He added: “Problems between the two countries must be resolved through political means.”
A Pakistani lawmaker, MNA Mohsin Dawar, raised the issue in the National Assembly on Saturday, describing the incident as a “highly tragic one”.
He said the victims were internally displaced persons from North Waziristan and they had crossed into Afghanistan before the start of the Zarb-i-Azab military operation in Pakistan’s terrorism-hit tribal areas.
“Yesterday night, Pakistan Army and air force planes carried out bombardments across the Afghan border and over 40 people were martyred in that,” the MNA said.
