They also discussed the construction of railways linking Uzbekistan with ports in Pakistan and beyond, in particular, discussion of the feasibility of construction of railways along the Mazar-e-Sharif-Herat-Bahramcha and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Torkham took place

DNA

TASHKENT (DNA) -The text of the following statement was released by the governments of the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan on the occasion of the inaugural U.S. – Afghanistan – Uzbekistan Trilateral Meeting.

Representatives of the governments of the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan convened via video teleconference for the inaugural United States – Afghanistan – Uzbekistan Trilateral meeting. The meeting was co-chaired by American Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar, and Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

Participants reaffirmed the importance of trilateral discussions to address mutual issues of concern including political, security, economic, and human development matters. To this end, participants:

Committed to greater cooperation among themselves, and called on countries of the region and the broader international community, to promote the Afghanistan peace process and to support the goal of a durable political settlement preserving the gains of the past 18 years to end the war in that country;

Welcomed the conclusion of the May 17 political agreement to form an inclusive Afghan government and to create a High Council for National Reconciliation, both of which should help move the peace process forward;

Affirmed the urgency of starting intra-Afghan negotiations to discuss a comprehensive ceasefire and a political roadmap for Afghanistan’s future;

Welcomed the historic Eid ceasefire and the decision by Afghan leadership this week to expedite the release of Taliban prisoners, including the more than 900 prisoners released since that decision was taken, and urged the continued release of prisoners by both the Afghan Government and the Taliban consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement of February 29;

Encouraged the continuation of the Eid ceasefire; noted the necessity of Afghanistan not returning to pre-ceasefire levels of violence; and noted the urgency of eliminating civilian casualties in order to create an environment conducive for peace and delivery of essential life-saving services to fight the COVID-19 pandemic; and

Took note of the U.S.-Afghanistan Joint Declaration and the U.S.-Taliban agreement of February 29 and affirmed Taliban and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan commitments to prevent any international terrorist groups or individuals, including al-Qa’ida and ISIS, from using Afghan soil; to this end, the sacrifices of the Afghan National Security Forces and its international partners are greatly appreciated.

Consistent with the needs of our citizens, participants further agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to: strengthen cooperation to respond to public health crises; maintain flows of essential goods and services across borders, including critical medical supplies and foodstuffs; and respond to economic shocks.

Through the trilateral format, the participants intend to deepen cooperation through the following priority areas:

Developing security cooperation and intensifying joint efforts to combat cross-border threats along the frontier between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and to address issues such as terrorism, drug and precursor trafficking, smuggling, illegal migration, human trafficking, and wildlife trafficking throughout the region;

Improving rail connectivity, including increasing the volume of freight transit traffic between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and beyond, with a view to the uninterrupted delivery of food, essential goods, medications, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, and improving regional transit integration.

Promoting trade between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan by reviewing and improving legal frameworks, policy reforms, sharing of information, use of appropriate technology, risk management, investment in infrastructure and human resources and removing constraints and bottlenecks, including through the development of the Free Economic Zone at the Termez border crossing;

Discussing the construction of railways linking Uzbekistan with ports in Pakistan and beyond, in particular, discussion of the feasibility of construction of railways along the Mazar-e-Sharif-Herat-Bahramcha and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Torkham routes;

Mitigating the consequences of COVID-19 on food security;

Supporting regional energy projects such as CASA-1000 (the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project), Central Asia Regional Electricity Market (CAREM), multi-lateral development bank electricity transmission projects, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline, and the construction of the 500 kilovolt Surkhan-Puli-Khumri (Khoja-Alvan) power transmission line;

Expanding opportunities for people-to-people exchanges and joint training, including at the Afghan Training Center in Termez;

Increasing humanitarian engagement between our peoples, including through coordination to confront the current pandemic, future public health crises, and natural disasters;

Promoting women’s equality and economic empowerment so that women can serve as drivers of the response to and recovery from the impacts COVID-19; and

Establishing a working group to implement the decisions made under this trilateral.

The participants look forward to continuing and expanding these discussions in person, as soon as public health conditions permit.

ISLAMABAD, MAY 27 / DNA / = China cannot remain oblivious to India’s illegal constructions in Ladakh, says Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

He has warned that India’s aggressive policy towards its neighbours is putting regional peace and security at stake.

Talking to a private news channel on Wednesday, he said the world community must take notice of it.

The foreign minister expressed concerns over the construction of air strips and other infrastructure in the disputed territory of Ladakh. He said China does not want confrontation with India and desires to sort out issues through dialogue.

Qureshi said the Indian atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir are before everybody and it is bent upon changing the demographic composition of the territory.

He said India has also used the land of Afghanistan against Pakistan.

  Sajjad Shaukat

Showing aggressive designs against Pakistan, on May 11, 1998, India conducted three nuclear tests and on May 13, 1998, two nuclear tests.

Notably, both the countries have waged three wars, especially on the issue of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Therefore, in response, Pakistan successfully carried out its five nuclear tests on May 28, 1998 and the sixth one on May 30, 1998.

In this regard, it took only 17 days for Pakistan to successfully carry out its five nuclear tests on May 28, 1998 and the sixth one on May 30, 1998, at Chaghi in Balochistan. For the purpose, about five thousands scientists including Dr Samarmand Mubarik and particularly Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had worked day and night and made the defence of the country impregnable.

Therefore, with national zeal and fervour in different parts of the country, Youm-e-Takbeer (The day of greatness) is celebrated every year on May 28 as the national day to mark the conduction of nuclear tests.

It is noteworthy that in 1974, India conducted first nuclear test in Rajhistan’s Pokhran to pressurise Islamabad.

When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to power, he paid much attention to the nuclear programme, as he knew that India would apply its coercive diplomacy on Islamabad or could attack Pakistan.

Meanwhile, during many crises such as Kargil issue of 1999 and attack on the Indian parliament by the militants in 2001, New Delhi concentrated its troops across the Pakistan’s border, with the intention to invade Pakistan, while raising a series of false allegations against Islamabad. Pakistan was also compelled to deploy its Army along the Pak-India border. But, India did not dare to initiate a war because of Pakistan’s ‘Nukes.’ Similarly, in the past, Indian rulers had intended to implement their doctrine of limited war in Kashmir, but they could not do so owing to Pakistan’s atomic weapons.

And in the aftermath of false flag Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, India accused Pakistan’s primary spy agency ISI of supporting the militants. Although Pak diplomats denied Indian self-fabricated story, but New Delhi adopted a threatening posture against Islamabad. Once again, it deployed its troops across the Pakistani border. Again, Pakistan also concentrated its military to give a matching response to India.

Likewise, in the aftermath of the false flag terror of Pulwama, very tension escalated rapidly between the two countries on February 27, 2019. In response to the Indian so-called pre-emptive air strike near the town of Balakot, close to the border with Pakistan’s sector of Kashmir, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down two Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets and launched aerial strikes at six targets in the (IOK). Pak Army also captured an Indian pilot.

The truth about India’s surgical strikes exposed, when Indian top civil and military leaders failed in providing any evidence. The then Indian India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also demitted that no Pakistani soldier or citizen died in the air strike in Balakot.

Nevertheless, after the Pulwama assault, India tried to make ground for a prospective invasion of Pakistan. But, it failed in acting upon its plans to wage a conventional war due to Pakistan’s atomic weapons.

In fact, since Narendar Modi, the leader of the ruling party BJP, became Indian Prime Minister; he has been implementing ideology of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism) by persecuting the Muslims and creating war-hysteria among the Hindus against Pakistan.

In this respect, Indian extremist rulers’ various moves such as abrogation of the special status of the Jummu and Kashmir to turn Muslim majority into minority in the Indian Held Kashmir, continued lockdown in that region, martyrdom of thousands of the Kashmiris there, issuance of a notorious map to bifurcate the Kashmir region into two union territories and introduction of new domicile law against the majority of Kashmiris, including continued shelling by the Indian forces show that New Delhi has completely ended any sort of dialogue with Islamabad to settle the Kashmir dispute.

Now, the entire world is facing the coronavirus pandemic which has, rapidly, been taking the lives of many persons. At this crucial juncture, international community is coping with this deadly virus. But, under the guise of coronavirus, India has politicised the COVID-19 epidemic by accusing the Indian Muslims and Pakistan for spreading the virus in India. Availing the opportunity, Indian rulers have imposed various kinds of restrictions on the Muslims, while Hindu extremists have set off a series of assaults against Muslims across the country.

In this connection, DG of Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar said on April 24, this year: “Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa stated…India’s attempt to link coronavirus with Muslims and Pakistan has failed badly…New Delhi has been promoting Hindutva and saffron terrorism…The fire of hatred which was first ignited in Indian-Occupied Kashmir has now spread across India…the whole world is facing the crises due to the coronavirus pandemic…India is still adamant on promoting RSS agenda in the region”.

In its reaction to the Indian 15-Corps Command interview with BBC on April 13, 2020,  Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar termed India’s insinuation about infiltration and ceasefire violations (CFVs) “baseless” and elaborated that they were “designed to divert global and domestic attention from the “unending fiasco…No less delusional are the allegations about Pakistan infiltrating COVID-affected individuals into IOJK”.

Referring to the LoC, in a statement, ISPR pointed out on April 29, this year, “A Pakistan Army soldier and two civilians embraced martyrdom when Indian Army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violations along the Line of Control…Pakistan Army responded effectively, resulting in heavy losses to Indian troops, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the Indian Army will always get a befitting response to ceasefire violations…The Indian forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars…India has committed 913 ceasefire violations this year”.

It is mentionable that Indian Defence Rajnath Singh on August 16, 2014 had threatened Pakistan with nuclear war, while BJP leader Dr. Subramaniam Swami had also stated in the same year that India needed only two years to defeat Pakistan militarily, and the only solution of Kashmir was war, as “there is no peaceful, democratic solution”.

Taking cognizance of Indian war-like diplomacy, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has, repeatedly, been stating to inform the international community and the UNO that New Delhi can arrange any Pulwama-type false flag operation to carry out another military adventure inside Pakistani side of Kashmir—and any conventional war between both the countries could result into atomic war, having “severe repercussions, if they “silently witness ethnic cleansing of Muslims in IOK… they have failed to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir…[which] remains a nuclear flashpoint in the South Asian region”.

It is worth-mentioning that the US dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as Tokyo had no such devices to retaliate. After the World War 11, nuclear weapons were never used. These were only employed as a strategic threat.

Nonetheless, unlike the former Soviet Union and the US who followed the principles of nuclear deterrence, popularly known as balance of terror, war-like situation exists between New Delhi and Islamabad due to the perennial firing by the Indian forces across the LoC in wake of the unsettled issue of Kashmir. So, India’s any military adventure or a prolonged conventional conflict with Pakistan could culminate into nuclear war.

Moreover, it is owing to atomic bombs that Pakistan can talk to India with honour and dignity, discouraging India from casting an evil eye on our motherland.

However, May 28 is celebrated as Youm-e-Takbeer by all the segments of society, including general masses; as on this very day, Pakistan became the 7th declared nuclear power in the world.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]