- Senate panel receives briefing from Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed.
- Secretary briefs senators on Kabul Embassy attack.
- Says eight sniper shots, and 100 rounds of bullets fired at embassy.
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Farooq H Naek, while expressing reservation about the attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, called Islamabad to review its policy towards Afghanistan.
The senator expressed his reservations during a briefing given by Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed on the attack on the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.
The secretary informed the Senate committee that Afghanistan had conveyed to Pakistan that they had arrested one sniper involved in the recent assassination attempt on the Pakistani envoy in Kabul and an investigation into the incident was underway.
Majeed said the Pakistani envoy was walking in the embassy yard when he came under attack. He explained that eight sniper shots and 100 rounds of bullets were fired from the eighth floor of a building that is close to 100 metres from the embassy.
“Thankfully, it was not a physical intrusion, and miraculously, the Pakistani ambassador remained safe,” he said, adding that the Afghan government had promised that the perpetrators of the crime would not be spared.
“The IS Khorasan has claimed responsibility for the incident,” he said, adding that Pakistan wanted peace in Afghanistan as peace and stability in Afghanistan were indispensable for Pakistan.
However, Senator Naek expressed reservations about the attack and said there was a dire need for Pakistan to revisit its policy towards Afghanistan.
“We are functioning as the spokesperson for Afghanistan, not India, in the world, but on the contrary, the Afghan government often opposes Pakistan and uses guns against us, which is unfortunate,” said the Pakistan Peoples Party senator.
FIA slammed for harassment of Pakistanis
Meanwhile, the additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) briefed the committee on the problems being faced by the Pakistani community living in Rwanda.
Senator Naek questioned the FIA official about the harassment of the Pakistani community living in Rwanda by officials at airports during visits to Pakistan.
“The Pakistani community, on their way back to Rwanda, is being harassed by FIA officials at airports, contrary to the fact that Pakistanis have a visa-on-arrival facility. Such an attitude of the FIA is regrettable,” he said.
He handed over written complaints received from the Pakistani High Commission in Rwanda to the FIA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and asked for a detailed written reply to all the complaints in the next meeting.
The matter about the details of the number of Pakistani embassies, consulates, and missions presently working abroad and the grade-wise details of each staff, including ambassadors and consulars working therein with the break-up belonging to minorities with particular reference to Balochistan domicile, raised by Senator Danesh Kumar was disposed of.
