Islamabad, Oct 2: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has “some misunderstandings” on the killing of peace council chief Burhanuddin Rabbani, which Kabul blames on the Taliban's Quetta Shura.
“I want to convey to President Hamid Karzai, who is my brother and friend and with whom we have good relations, that he has some misunderstandings on the assassination of Professor Rabbani,” Gilani said yesterday.
Noting that he visited Afghanistan to express his condolences over the assassination of Rabbani, Gilani said Pakistan is ready to provide any security or intelligence assistance in probing the killing.
“They (Afghans) cannot doubt us. Pakistanis are a self-respecting nation. Pakistan neither interferes in anyone's affairs nor allows anyone's interference in our affairs,” he said.
Gilani's remarks came after the Afghan intelligence service said it had handed over evidence that Rabbani's assassination was planned in the southern outskirts of Quetta where key Taliban leaders are based.
Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul on September 20 2011.
Earlier, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan described as “false and baseless” the Afghan allegation.
“The Afghan allegations that Pakistan is behind the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani are totally unfounded and baseless,” she said.
She said all allegations levelled by certain countries against Pakistan in the past had proved to be wrong and the fresh allegations too would “meet the same fate”. PTI
