By: Itrat Naqvi,
As usual, Modi once again spoiled an international event aimed at strengthening regional peace and security by resorting to Pakistan bashing. Despite being a seasoned politician he remained unable to hide his hatred and venomous views against Pakistan. At “Heart of Asia” conference he even betrayed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to resort to Pakistan bashing. Ashraf Ghani opened the conference by snubbing a $500 million pledge from Pakistan for development projects in Afghanistan, saying "We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism. Pakistan has pledged $500m for Afghanistan's development. This amount can be spent to contain extremism. Afghanistan suffered the highest number of casualties last year. This is unacceptable... Some still provide sanctuary for terrorists. As a Taliban figure said recently, if they had no sanctuary in Pakistan, they wouldn't last a month."
Pakistan had laid down the foundations of Heart of Asia Conference with the collaboration of Turkey six years ago. The Heart of Asia was established to provide a platform to discuss regional issues, particularly encouraging security, political, and economic cooperation among Afghanistan and its neighbors. This region-led dialogue was launched in November 2011 to expand practical coordination between Afghanistan and its neighbors and regional partners in facing common threats. The United States and over 20 other nations and organizations serve as “supporting nations” to the process. 6th Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia summit was held in Amritsar, India, from December 3 to December 4, 2016. The meeting was inaugurated by president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,
Russia supported Pakistan viewpoint at the said conference. Addressing the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar Russian envoy Zamir Kabulov said that Sartaj Aziz’s speech at the conference was friendly and constructive. Despite provocations by Modi and Ghani, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said peaceful resolution of all longstanding issues is the only way forward for boosting regional cooperation and connectivity. The Adviser said Pakistan is ready to extend every kind of cooperation for stability and development in Afghanistan. He said Afghanistan should avoid leveling false and baseless accusations on Pakistan.
Ghani has started to tow the line of his predecessor Karzai. He also fell prey to Indian hostile propaganda against Pakistan. Under the guise of friendship India is providing arms and financial assistance to Taliban and splinter groups in Afghanistan. It is also supporting Afghan Taliban in Pakistan. By doing so it is achieving its objective of undermining Pakistan's regional role and spoiling Pak-Afghanistan relations. Terrorism is a common threat to Afghanistan and Pakistan. India is abetting regional terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan to spoil regional peace and stability which is main agenda of Heart of Asia conference. Ashraf Ghani must revise his Pakistan policy which is being dictated to him by Modi, a staunch enemy of Pakistan. At the end of the day, it is Afghanistan and Pakistan cooperation that can eradicate the menace of terrorism from the region by ousting spoiler – Modi led India – from the overall peace process and reconciliation. Because spoilers will continue spoiling the peace as he did at the recent conference.
The article was originally published in National Herald Tribune.
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