ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani questioned the government’s efficiency to support the Afghan Taliban, when the latter did not even recognise the border.
Addressing a senate’s session today, Senator Raza Rabbani asked the foreign minister to take the parliament into confidence about a recent incident in which the new rulers in Afghanistan had reportedly barred Pakistan’s security forces from fencing the border.
None of the government commented on the incident so far. Pakistan has fenced most of the 2,600km border with Afghanistan despite protests and attacks, which has contested the British-era boundary demarcation that splits families and tribes on either side.
Afghan defence ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi said the Taliban forces stopped the Pakistani military from erecting what he called an “illegal” border fence along with the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday.
The fencing was the main reason behind the souring of relations between previous US-backed Afghan governments and Islamabad. The current standoff indicates the issue remains a contentious matter for the Taliban, despite its close ties to Islamabad.
“They are not ready to recognise the border, so why are we moving forward?” questioned Rabbani, during the session today.
The PPP senator also expressed alarm over reports that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was regrouping in Afghanistan, “which could possibly fuel terrorism in Pakistan”.
“On what terms is the state talking about a ceasefire with the banned group?” he questioned.
He went on to say that the state of Pakistan meant the civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan and not the people sitting in parliament.
