File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
Addressing PTI workers in Multan, foreign minister says no Pakistani official will even shake hands with Hamdullah Mohib over his comments
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday slammed Afghanistan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib over comments demeaning Pakistan and directed him to “correct” his behavior.
“The national security adviser of Afghanistan [should] carefully listen to me: as the foreign minister of Pakistan, I say that no Pakistan will shake your hand, or even talk to you if you don’t desist from the kind of language you are using, or [halt] the accusations you’re making against Pakistan,” he said during a gathering of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters in Multan.
Last month, Mohib reportedly visited Nangarhar province and, in a speech, derided Pakistan as a “brothel house.” The statement prompted the Foreign Office to issue a statement conveying serious concerns over the “irresponsible statements” of the Afghan leadership. Mohib, per the Voice of America, routinely accuses Pakistan and its security agencies of “managing” the Taliban’s insurgency in Afghanistan. While Islamabad rejects these charges, the Afghan president last month alleged in an interview that Pakistan supports the Taliban with an “organized system” that included financial assistance and recruitment.
Stressing that Pakistan had suffered a “huge cost” in terms of both lives lost and economic consequences due to terrorism, Qureshi said Islamabad was only concerned with regional peace and stability. Claiming that Mohib’s statements were creating obstacles on the path toward peace, he noted that senior Pakistani officials from the prime minister to the Army chief had all visited Kabul to encourage peace.
“You should be ashamed and you should be guilty at your words and my blood is boiling ever since your speech in Nangarhar,” he said. “Correct your behavior and reflect on it. I say this to the international community that if this behavior continues, then this person who calls himself the national security adviser of Afghanistan will actually be playing the role of a spoiler,” he added.
During his address, the foreign minister also discussed Pakistan’s greylist status at the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, claiming “some politicians” had tried to get the country blacklisted. “In FATF’s last meeting, it was noted that Pakistan had taken concrete steps to curb [money laundering],” he said, claiming there was no longer any justification to keep Pakistan on the grey list.