Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday offered to mediate between Pakistan and Afghanistan to help ease tensions between the two neighbours.
The JUI-F leader’s remarks came days after 23 Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred and over 200 Afghan Taliban and militants belonging to “Fitna al-Khawarij” were killed in border clashes, following an unprovoked attack by the Taliban forces.
Talking to journalists at Islamabad’s Convention Centre, the JUI chief said: “I played a role in reducing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the past and I can do it now too.”
Last year in January, Fazl, along with a delegation, had visited Kabul and met Afghanistan’s then-acting deputy prime minister, Maulvi Abdul Kabir, and other cabinet members to defuse tensions between the two countries.
Afghanistan’s then-acting DPM had reiterated that the Taliban government would not allow Afghan soil to be used against anyone, including Pakistan. During his stay in Afghanistan, the JUI-F chief had also held a one-on-one meeting with the Taliban’s supreme leader, Shaikh Hibatullah.
During his interaction with journalists in the federal capital today, the JUI-F leader said that he has maintained contact with Afghan leadership and “is willing to once again mediate to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
The cleric said that they wanted to resolve all issues between the two neighbours through dialogue and mutual understanding.
The JUI-F leader said that while a ceasefire had been achieved between Pakistan and Afghanistan, there should now also be “a truce of words” to prevent further escalation.
He stressed the need to calm the situation rather than fueling hostility, adding that efforts should be aimed at de-escalation instead of provocation.
Hours after the JUI-F leader’s statement, the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij opened unprovoked fire on Pakistani positions along the border in Kurram district, revealed security sources.
According to the sources, Pakistani troops gave a strong and immediate response, targeting the firing positions of the Afghan Taliban and Fitna-e-Khawarij with intense retaliatory fire.
The exchange inflicted severe damage on multiple Taliban posts, while flames were seen rising from their positions, the sources added.
The sources further confirmed that a Taliban tank was destroyed in the counter-fire, forcing the attackers to abandon their posts and flee from the area.
This marks the second incident in recent days involving cross-border aggression by the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij.
On the night of October 11, Afghan forces had opened unprovoked fire at multiple border points, including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, and Kurram, with similar attacks also reported in Dir, Chitral, Baramcha, and other areas along the Durand Line.
Pakistani forces retaliated swiftly, striking Afghanistan's border posts and terrorist hideouts across multiple border points overnight, destroying several Afghan posts, and killing more than 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated terrorists, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said.
In a statement, the military's media wing said that Pakistani forces carried out "precision fires and strikes, as well as physical raids, directed against Taliban camps and posts, terrorist training facilities and support networks operating from Afghan territory".
"Multiple Taliban locations were destroyed all along the border; 21 hostile positions on the Afghan side of the border were also briefly physically captured and multiple terrorist training camps, used to plan and facilitate attacks against Pakistan, were rendered inoperative," it said.