Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the firing by Afghan Border Forces on the civilian population in Balochistan\u2019s Chaman district a day earlier and called on the interim government in Kabul to ensure that such incidents were not repeated in the future.<\/p>\n
At least seven people lost their lives and 16 others suffered injuries on Sunday in Chaman when it came under \u201cunprovoked and indiscriminate\u201d heavy gunfire and artillery shelling by Afghan border forces, according to the military\u2019s media affairs wing.<\/p>\n
The incident has been widely condemned across the political divide in Pakistan, with PM Shehbaz\u2019s among the latest denunciations.<\/p>\n
In a tweet on Monday, PM Shehbaz said the \u201cunprovoked shelling and fire by Afghan Border Forces at Chaman, resulting in [the] martyrdom of several Pakistani citizens and injuring more than a dozen, is unfortunate and deserves the strongest condemnation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Afghan Interim government should ensure that such incidents are not repeated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Former ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan also issued a condemnation and stressed the need for measures to prevent such incidents, highlighting that an increase was observed in their occurrence in recent days.<\/p>\n
\u201cCondemn yesterday\u2019s Chaman incident killing six Pakistanis and injuring many others from firing\/shelling from [the] Afghan side. Unfortunately, such incidents have been continuing\/increasing recently,\u201d he tweeted, calling for \u201cdirect talks with [the] Afghan government\/institutions to prevent [the] recurrence of such incidents, which is in mutual interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinuation of such cross-border incidents not only affects relations but [also] impedes [the] enhancing of cooperation in political, trade, transit, economic exchanges and particularly [the] movement of people\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
The condemnations by the premier and the ambassador follow the Foreign Office\u2019s (FO) denunciation of the incident, wherein it demanded the \u201cstrictest possible action\u201d by Afghan authorities against those responsible.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued on Sunday night, the FO said \u201csuch unfortunate incidents are not in keeping with the brotherly ties\u201d between Pakistan and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Afghan authorities have been informed that recurrence of such incidents must be avoided and strictest possible action must be taken against those responsible,\u201d it said in a statement, adding that both countries remained in contact to ensure there was no escalation of the situation.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Pakistan military\u2019s media affairs wing described the incident as \u201cuncalled-for aggression\u201d and said Pakistani troops had given a \u201cbefitting\u201d but \u201cmeasured response\u201d and avoided targeting civilians on the other side.<\/p>\n
Pakistani authorities had approached their counterparts in Kabul to highlight the \u201cseverity\u201d of the situation, demanding strict action to prevent a repeat of such incidents, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the firing by Afghan Border Forces on the civilian population in Balochistan\u2019s Chaman district a day earlier and called on the interim government in Kabul to ensure that such incidents were not repeated in the future. At least seven people lost their lives and 16 others suffered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3195,1292,11334,5822],"class_list":{"0":"post-300758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-afghan-govt","9":"tag-chaman","10":"tag-pm-shehbaz-shareef","11":"tag-pm-shehbaz-sharif"},"yoast_head":"\n