Jan. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Pakistani Foreign Minister and prominent national political leader, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has assured that his country has no intention of starting peace negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban, whom he accused of being part of an “anti-constitutional” group, although he has assured that the Pakistani Army has no intention of undertaking cross-border operations that could agitate the Afghan Taliban movement.
“The new dome of power in Pakistan,” he explained, referring to Pakistani Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif, “has made it very clear: you do not negotiate with terrorist organizations that do not respect our Constitution.”
In an interview with the ‘Washington Post’ newspaper from the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), the minister and president of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has stated his intention to work with the “acting government of Afghanistan”, in reference to the Taliban, “because they have influence over these groups.”
After accusing former prime minister and great political rival Imran Khan of “giving the Pakistani Taliban a place to hide”, the foreign minister has reiterated his spirit of collaboration with Afghan fundamentalists. “Whatever the situation in Afghanistan is, it is a reality that we all have to deal with. We need to aggressively engage with the interim government in Afghanistan,” he said.
In fact, and in a subsequent conversation with the official Turkish news agency Anadolu, the minister has indicated that his country “has no intention of launching a cross-border operation” against the Pakistani Taliban refuges in the mountains between the two countries “nor is there any the intention of launching a new military intervention after the long war in Afghanistan”.
“Our preferred option is for the Afghan interim government to take action against terrorists who may be in their country, and we stand ready and willing to help them increase their capacity and ability to deal with that threat,” he concluded.
