New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs said today, January 6, that India unequivocally condemns airstrikes on Afghan civilians by Pakistan and that it is “an old practice” of Pakistan to “blame its neighbours for its own internal failures.”
Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan on December 24 targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban in the Paktika province.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that it received “credible” reports that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed.
The Taliban administration deputy spokesman Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat later said that the bombing killed 46 people.
This is being reported as the second cross-border action by Islamabad since March last year.
Today, in response to media queries regarding airstrikes on Afghan civilians, the MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said:
“We have noted the media reports on airstrikes on Afghan civilians, including women and children, in which several precious lives have been lost.”
“We unequivocally condemn any attack on innocent civilians. It is an old practice of Pakistan to blame its neighbours for its own internal failures. We have also noted the response of an Afghan spokesperson in this regard.”
On December 28, Afghan Taliban forces reportedly targeted “several points” in Pakistan in retaliation, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence said.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have a strained relationship. The former claims that the latter has attacked it often.
