KABUL - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged a protest with Pakistan over controversial remarks by a senior cleric.
Maulana Hamidul Haq, head of the Haqqania Madrassa in Akora Khattak, recently asked the Afghan government to surrender to the Taliban as the rebel movement had defeated the US.
Haq stressed the continuation of jihad in Afghanistan and hailed the Taliban as guardians of Pakistani frontiers.
MoFA slammed as irresponsible Haq’s remarks on the Afghan conflict and handed a demarche to the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.
The ministry said: “Such remarks about Afghanistan fuel extremism and violence and motivate the enemies of our people to move and carry out more destructive activities.”
Bilateral ties between the neighbours were improving, as Pakistan had pledged to play a positive role in the Afghan peace process, MoFA noted.
However, the ministry regretted such irresponsible statements as issued by Haq hurt the feelings of all Afghans.
MoFA urged Pakistan to honour its commitments to ensuring security and stability in Afghanistan.
Kabul called on Pakistan not to allow such hostilities and provocative steps that might destroy mutual trust between the two countries.
On Saturday, presidential spokesperson Sediq Sediqi said some religious seminaries in Pakistan promoted extremism in Afghanistan and waged a propaganda campaign against the Afghan security forces.
Sediqi said in a video clip: “Pakistan often talks about playing a constructive role in the Afghan peace process but a group of religious scholars who call themselves Taliban’s fathers talk against our system. They promote extremism and jihad and this is against international laws and norms.”
Sediqi said Afghanistan expected Pakistan to stop its seminaries from promoting hatred and extremism against Afghanistan.