Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has said that the purpose of fencing along Pak-Afghan border is to stop cross border movement of terrorists. He said this in a media interaction in Karachi, according to Radio Pakistan reports. He further added that the Pakistan government will not let any terrorist organization disturb peace in the country.
The irony in the statement issued by the Pakistani minister is evident, given that Pakistan has harboured terrorists on their soil for a very long time now. From being a haven for the likes of Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Syed Salahuddin, Masood Azhar and even Osama bin Laden in the past — the who’s who of international terror network — it is ludicrous how Ahmad now justifying the fence along the Durand Line under the garb of anti-terrorism. Pakistan’s links with the Taliban and other international terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan is no secret.
Islamabad’s duplicity was further exposed a few days ago when its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi declared Al-Qaeda a threat and raised concerns over Afghanistan turning into a terror hub. This comes after it harboured 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden on its soil for five years before he was killed. It is said that the Pakistan government even provided him with security, with Osama’s longtime bodyguards being from Abbottabad in Pakistan where he was living with his wives, children and grandchildren. Now Qureshi said that Al Qaeda is a threat and that Pakistan will not harbour it.
And for the sake of argument, let’s say that Islamabad fears Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for anti-Pakistan militant groups. There have been instances of anti-Pakistan radicals infiltrating the porous Pak-Afghan border in the past when cross-border tensions between the countries reached its peak, leading to violent conflicts along the border in 2017. However, that was the time when the US-led, anti-Taliban administration was holding power in Kabul. It was also the time when Pakistan was sheltering the Afghan Taliban and the dreaded Haqqani Network.
Once the Taliban took over, Pakistan could have been assured if its interests were being safeguarded. After the US-backed government was overthrown in Afghanistan, Pakistan was almost certain that the “friendly” Taliban would not object to the fence. After all, having been the Taliban’s biggest backers from the word go, the Pakistan-Taliban relationship has so far been the one of utmost support and camaraderie. To its shock, the Taliban openly expressed its displeasure over the fence. In that case, what does it speak of the duplicity of Islamabad’s relationship with the Taliban?
When the Pak Interior Minister insisting on the fence, was he also alluding to the Taliban as terrorists? Because right now, there is only one militia that holds power in Afghanistan and that is the Taliban. And as Islamabad claims to be bosom friends with the Taliban, its concerns over cross border movement of terrorists reeks of hypocrisy.
