After Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has blamed India for the abduction and the torture of Afghanistan’s envoy daughter in Islamabad, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Thursday(July 22), said, “Even by their standards, Pakistan’s denial of the victim’s account is stooping to a new low.”
MEA’s spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a virtual media briefing called it a “shocking incident” and added, “This involves two other countries viz. Afghanistan and Pakistan, and usually we would not comment on it,”.
On July 16, the 26-year-old daughter of Afghan ambassador Najibullah Alikhil was abducted and was held for almost five hours and assaulted by unidentified men presumably of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). The Afghan government recalled its envoy and senior diplomats from Islamabad after this incident.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again expresses deep concern over the continuation of unprofessional remarks by Pakistan’s Interior Minister regarding the abduction of the daughter of our Ambassador in Islamabad,” the Afghan foreign ministry has said in a statement.
When Bagchi was asked how secure Indian High Commission personnel are in Pakistan, he said, “I would not like to get into specific securing measures.”
On India-Afghanistan bilateral relations, the MEA spokesperson said, “We are guided by the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the two sides in October 2011. As a contiguous neighbour, India supports the Government and the people of Afghanistan in realizing their aspirations for a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future where the interest of all sections of Afghan society including women and minorities are protected,”.
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