Afghanistan's envoy to UN condemns Pak airstrikes

The Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations condemned Pakistani airstrikes in the Khost and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan, launched on Saturday, April 16, which killed over 40 people, including women and children, the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the UN said in a press statement.

Afghanistan's envoy to the UN said that the airstrike was the aggression of Pakistan against the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and it breached the international laws, principles of the UN Charter, UN General Assembly, and Security Council resolutions.

According to the statement, Pakistan breaks the resolution 1453 (2002) on the "Kabul Declaration on Good-Neighbourly Relations."

"The cross border shellings by the Pakistani military in the eastern province of Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism has caused a high number of civilian casualties and displacement of local Afghan people for more than a decade," the statement reads.

The statement further stated that there must be a holistic approach to the fight against terrorism and violence and added that the killing of civilians can't be justified.

"The Afghan people have already suffered from the terrorist acts and they have been the victim of terrorism for the past twenty years," the statement stated.

Afghanistan's envoy to the UN called on Pakistan to stop these acts of aggression and also asked to respect the territorial integrity of their country.

Earlier, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the report of civilian casualties in Pakistan's airstrikes in the Khost and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan and called it a "crime against humanity".

"Karzai condemned Pakistani forces' attacks in Kunar & Khost in which dozens of civilians--including women & children--were killed & wounded. He called them a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty, a violation of intl norms & a crime against humanity," TOLOnews reported.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has summoned Pakistan's ambassador to convey concerns to the Pakistan government over the recent airstrikes.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor