Pak-Afghan ties at 'very low ebb once again' following Rabbani's killing: Editorial

Islamabad, Oct 4(ANI): The relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is at a very low ebb once again, in the wake of intensifying Afghan accusations that High Peace Council leader Burhanuddin Rabbani's assassination was planned in Quetta, an editorial in a Pakistani newspaper has said.

At the same time that the shrill tone of charges and counter-charges between Pakistan and the United States appears to be easing, new, intensifying accusations, this time from Afghanistan, promise to keep the pot boiling, the Daily Times editorial said.

A statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai's palace has quoted investigators as saying that former Afghan president Rabbani's assassin was a Pakistani national from Chaman, Balochistan, and that evidence shows that the killing was plotted in Quetta.

"Without any doubt, Pakistan's ISI hand has been involved," Afghanistan's Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi was quoted as telling lawmakers, while giving testimony in parliament.

Pakistan's foreign office (FO) of course rejected these accusations out of hand, choosing at the same time to throw the ball back in Afghanistan's court by stating that perhaps some of Afghanistan's own 'agencies' may be behind the murder, the editorial said.

Needless to say, the FO exonerated the ISI of any involvement in Rabbani's death, it added.

Relations are at a very low ebb once again, with the Afghan Foreign Ministry dragging its feet on convening the trilateral meeting amongst Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US, scheduled to be held in Kabul, the editorial observed.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in an interaction with print media in Lahore on Sunday, delivered himself of the 'newfound' wisdom vis-?-vis the Taliban, saying that the government was committed to peace through dialogue with the Taliban in the tribal areas.

Pakistan, he continued, wanted no fight with anyone and he advised a moderate approach in relations with Afghanistan and the US.

Commenting on Gilani remarks, the editorial questioned: "Does the prime minister realise the contradiction between his sweet words and the ground reality of the proxy war against Afghanistan, a sovereign neighbour, being waged from safe havens on Pakistani soil?" (ANI)