NEW YORK: Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi said Thursday that Pakistan was ready to host another round of Afghan peace talks, “But we would like to see the anti-Pakistan rhetoric coming from Kabul to cease.”
Talking to reporters, she said that for the second round of peace talks, Afghan government should formally request Pakistan.
Maleeha said there was also a need to create an atmosphere to build a greater trust between the two countries.
This was the intent behind the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris.
She said Pakistan desired to see peace in the neighborhood that was also reiterated by Nawaz Sharif to Ashraf Ghani in their meeting.
Dr Lodhi said the annual resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly was an opportunity to debate the revival of peace talks and the future of Afghanistan.
She said at the General Assembly, she had presented Pakistan’s viewpoint emphasizing the need for revival of peace talks that began in Murree, where Pakistan hosted first round of the talks.
However, she said the importance of the revival of peace talks was underscored by the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
She said both Afghan government as well as Afghan Taliban should follow the international consensus.
“The international consensus today is in favour of the negotiated peace,” she remarked.
Dr Lodhi said the point she had made at the UNGA was that there were two parts to Afghan peace; one is imposition of military solution and the other is negotiated peace.
Military solution, she said, had proved to be elusive in the past and it would prove elusive in the future too.
She said, for negotiated peace, Pakistan has offered its assistance and Afghan government should make a request to Pakistan to revive and renew the peace process so that an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process can get underway and, “Over time we can see a return to peace to people of Afghanistan.”
The people of Afghanistan have suffered a lot due to foreign invasion, conflict and internal civil war, that is why they deserved a better future, she remarked.
She said Pakistan and its people had also been badly affected by Afghan situation, so Pakistan was a major stakeholder to see the peace returning to Afghanistan.
She said no country can have greater stake than Pakistan to see peaceful Afghanistan. Pakistan also condemned the recent wave of violence in Afghanistan killing innocent people including women and children.
Therefore, Dr Lodhi said Pakistan desired to see both Afghan government and Afghan Taliban to negotiate. She reiterated that Pakistan was ready to extend its assistance in this regard.
Source: APP
