Pakistan on Monday rejected any involvement in the assassination attempt on leading Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah last week that left 12 people dead, in an attack blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“We firmly reject any insinuation of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack on Presidential candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah’s convoy and allegations of seeking to “disrupt” elections in Afghanistan,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.
“Pakistan is deeply disappointed by these irresponsible allegations as they serve to vitiate the positive environment created between the two countries through constructive efforts over the past many months,” she said.
Ms. Aslam said the allegations fall in the familiar pattern of certain elements in Afghanistan sparing no occasion to malign Pakistan and its security institutions and shifting the blame to others for their own security failures.
“We are sure that neither the Afghan people, nor the international community, would be misled by these motivated allegations,” she said.
She said Pakistan’s interests are not served by a “disruption” of Afghan elections but a peaceful election and smooth democratic transition would advance its interest, which is have a stable Afghanistan.
“Accordingly, we remain committed to supporting all efforts for a free and peaceful election, including through enhanced security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” she said.
She also said Pakistan hoped that the people of Afghanistan would emerge stronger and more unified from the election and the government and people of Pakistan would continue to stand in strong solidarity with Afghan brethren at this crucial juncture.
The Afghan National Security Council (NSC) headed by Hamid Karzai on Sunday had blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba and a foreign intelligence agency for the attack.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistan based militant group.
