ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua reiterated Pakistan’s call for making serious efforts for negotiated settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban for achieving lasting peace in the war-torn country, it was reported.
She expressed those views while participating in the meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Contact Group on Afghanistan held at the deputy foreign minister-level in Moscow Wednesday, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov chaired the meeting while deputy foreign ministers of Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and representatives of SCO and its relevant bodies attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Janjua underlined challenges faced by Afghanistan including deteriorating security situation marked by increasing ungoverned spaces being used to provide sanctuary to the terrorist groups like Da’esh, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and increasing drug production which threatened Afghanistan’s neighbours.
The foreign secretary also emphasised the importance of early return of Afghan refugees and combating drug production and human trafficking which continued to affect stability of Afghanistan and the region.
The members of SCO Contact Group exchanged views on ways and means to support peace and stability in Afghanistan through facilitating Afghan-led peace process, assisting the Afghan government in dealing with security and counter-terrorism challenges and promoting regional economic integration and connectivity.
They unanimously supported measures for strengthening interaction between Afghanistan and the SCO countries.
The member countries welcomed Chinese proposal for hosting the next meeting of the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan in Beijing in early 2018.
Published in Daily Times, October 12th 2017.
