In his address at the 6th annual conference of Heart of Asia, Ghani harshly criticised Islamabad. File photo

Amritsar, December 4

In a hard-hitting attack on Pakistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday accused it of launching an “undeclared war” on his country by covertly supporting several terror networks including the Taliban.In his address at the 6th annual conference of Heart of Asia, Ghani harshly criticised Islamabad and said an international mechanism must be put in place without “playing games” to find out who was benefiting from terrorism, extremism and other illicit activities.He said time has come for concrete action against terror infrastructure and those support it, and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.He said despite Afghanistan’s bilateral and multilateral ties with Pakistan, the “undeclared war” that started in winter of 2014, has intensified after the recent Brussels conference on Afghanistan’s transition.Slamming Pakistan’s habit of denying cross border terror attacks, the Afghan President called for setting up of international mechanism to verify reality of such attacks which have increased in the last few months.He also sought setting up of a global fund to contain terrorism.”There should be an Asian or international regime, whatever is acceptable to Pakistan, should be put in place to verify frontier activities and terrorist operations.”We do not want blame game, we want verification,” he said, without mincing words.”We need to set up a fund to combat extremism,” Ghani said.Pakistan Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz was among representatives of 30 countries who attended the conference inaugurated jointly by Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”We thank Pakistan for their pledges of USD 500 million for reconstruction of Afghanistan. This fund Mr Aziz could very well be used to contain extremists because without peace any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people,” he said, adding that no amount of money could assist Afghanistan if there is support to terrorists by Pakistan. PTI

Aziz not allowed to visit Golden Temple: Pak; India cites security concerns

Pakistan Prime Ministers Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. PTI

Amritsar, December 4

Pakistan today claimed that its Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz was not allowed to visit the Golden Temple and speak to Pakistani mediapersons at the hotel where he was staying, even as India said it was done due to security considerations.Sources in the Pakistani High Commission said Aziz had planned to visit the Golden Temple but was not allowed citing security concerns.Aziz, who arrived here last evening, wanted to interact with Pakistani mediapersons who accompanied him at the Radisson Blue hotel, the venue of the Heart of Asia conference, but was not given permission by security personnel, the sources said.Indian government sources said the permission was not given considering his security.”Security was very tight. Permission was not given due to security reasons. Security of our guests is paramount. India ensured no untoward incident took place,” they said.There was a tiff between Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and security personnel at the hotel after they denied Pakistani journalists entry to the venue.After security personnel denied permission for Aziz’s interaction with the Pakistani media at the conference venue, the Pakistani High Commission planned the interaction at another hotel but that too was not allowed, the Pakistani High Commission sources said.Later, Basit spoke to the Pakistani media. Aziz left for Pakistan by a special aircraft around 8 PM.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had visited the Golden Temple yesterday, while Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited it today.Apparently, the parents of Hamid Ansari, who is at present lodged in a jail in Pakistan, were waiting for a meeting with Aziz at the Golden Temple.Mumbai-based Fauzia Ansari and her husband Nihal had come here, hoping to request Aziz to release their son from prison, who has already completed his jail term.Hamid, an IT engineer and MBA degree holder, had gone to Kabul on November 4, 2012 from where he reached Pakistan allegedly to meet a Pakistani girl he had been in touch with through e-mails. — PTI