Pakistan urges Afghanistan to investigate ISKP’s claim

Islamabad says also verifying the veracity of ISKP claim.

ISLAMABAD      –   Pakistan yesterday said that terrorism must be defeated and urged Af¬ghanistan to investigate Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) claim of carrying out the Decem¬ber 2 attack on the Paki¬stani embassy in Kabul. “We have seen re¬ports that ISKP has ac¬cepted responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Pakistan em¬bassy compound on 2 December 2022. Inde¬pendently and in con¬sultation with the Af¬ghan authorities, we are verifying the ve¬racity of these reports. This notwithstanding, the terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the threat that ter¬rorism poses to peace and stability in Af¬ghanistan and the re¬gion,” said Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch. She added: “We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace. On its part, Pakistan re-mains steadfast in its commitment to com¬bat terrorism.” Earlier, the ISKP said it was re¬sponsible for the assas-sination attempt on Pa¬kistan’s chief diplomat in Afghanistan. Pakistani Chargé d’Af¬faires Ubaidur Reh¬man Nizamani was on a routine afternoon walk inside the embas¬sy compound in Kabul when unknown gun¬men opened fire on him from a nearby building. He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani securi¬ty guard was hit in the chest and both legs by bullets. The Islamic State group’s statement claimed that two mem¬bers of its regional af¬filiate, known as Is¬lamic State Khorasan Province, armed with ‘medium weapons and snipers’ had assault¬ed the apostate Paki¬stani ambassador and his guards. Pakistan condemned the attack, demanding the Afghan government to bring the perpetra¬tors to justice and boost security of its missions in Afghanistan. A police spokesper¬son in Kabul said one suspect had been ar¬rested and two weap¬ons seized shortly after the shooting on the Pa¬kistani embassy. Taliban Foreign Af¬fairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi con¬demned the attack in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani coun¬terpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “FM Muttaqi assured him that special atten¬tion will be paid to the security of the embas¬sy and full efforts will be made to identify and prosecute the per¬petrators of the terror¬ist attack,” said an Af¬ghan foreign ministry statement. Several countries, including Pakistan China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and India have kept their embassies in Kabul open after the Taliban took over power last year, but the United States and other Western nations immediately moved their diplomatic mis¬sions out of Afghani¬stan and currently op¬erate from Qatar.

Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/05-Dec-2022/pakistan-urges-afghanistan-to-investigate-iskp-s-claim