New Delhi, June 9 (IANS) Highlighting the enduring civilisational links between India and Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday reaffirmed New Delhi’s commitment to peace, stability and development in Afghanistan and the region.
Addressing a weekly media briefing in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal cited India’s statement at the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) briefing, underscoring India’s continued humanitarian assistance and development partnership with the Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan, we had a meeting yesterday in New York where you saw our Permanent Representative (PR), he made a statement on the UNAMA briefing where we have reiterated that India and Afghanistan are contiguous neighbours. As civilisational states, our ties have spanned centuries. We stand in favor of peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the region so as to foster development and stability in the region. We also talked about our development cooperation, our longstanding friendship and development cooperation that we continue to do in Afghanistan on the side of food security, on the side of medicine, pharma support and health,” Jaiswal stated.
“And many of our development cooperation programmes cut across gender. It benefits people across the board, including women and children. We’ve also provided scholarships and capacity-building programmes to people of Afghanistan, and these will continue. You would have seen we have also made statements or reflected on some of the peace and security-related issues that were highlighted in the report, as also in the briefing that was done. Our position on Afghanistan remains as contained in the statement by our PR,” he added
The MEA also stressed that India remains committed to fostering peace and stability in Afghanistan and will continue working for the development and progress of the Afghan people.
On Monday, India came to the defence of Afghanistan and the UN from attacks by Pakistan and condemned Islamabad’s “unconscionable” violence against its neighbour.
“Pakistan, in its statement earlier today, questioned the intent of UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) and the veracity of the UNSG’s (Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’) report,” India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said at the Security Council.
“We would like to stress that support for multilateralism and the United Nations is not an a la carte menu,” he said at a discussion on the situation in Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan’s air strikes on Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan, while “espousing high principles of international law and Islamic solidarity”, is the “perfect example of hypocrisy”.
“We reiterate the Secretary-General’s deep concern at civilian casualties caused by airstrikes, cross-border firing and targeted killings as detailed in UNAMA reports,” he said.
“We support the Secretary General’s call urging compliance with obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and ensuring protection of civilians,” Harish stated.
“We also support UNAMA’s earlier calls for investigation to ensure accountability, prevent recurrence and uphold victims’ rights. for investigation to ensure accountability, prevent recurrence and uphold victims’ rights,” he further added.
–IANS
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