Pakistan on Sunday strongly rejected the 'baseless allegations' of the Afghan Interior Minister of its intelligence's involvement in the assassination of Afghan peace envoy, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, IRNA reported.
Afghan Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi claimed in the parliament on Saturday that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) played a key role in the killing of Rabbani, Chairman of the High Peace Council. Rabbani was killed by a bomber at his Kabul residence last month.
'Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani was a great friend of Pakistan and widely respected in this country. He had lived in Pakistan for a long time and had many friends here,' the Foreign Ministry said.
Pakistan also rejected what Afghan authorities called evidences about the plot and that were handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Kabul on Saturday.
'The so-called evidence given to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul is actually a confessional statement of an Afghan national Hamidullah Akundzadeh accused of master-minding the assassination,' the Foreign Ministry spokesman said, adding that the concerned authority will work upon this piece of information.
The spokesperson said in a statement that the Afghan Interior Minister has not highlighted the fact that the assassin and his handler were roaming around in Kandahar and Kabul for quite some time. 'Also, the Afghan Interior Minister did not say that the assassin had been four days in the guesthouse of the High Peace Council managed by Afghans close to Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani,' the statement said.
The statement said the assassin was also apparently not body searched before the meeting, adding that these facts are also part of the confession handed over to the Embassy by the Afghan intelligence.
It said that the Afghan Interior Minister's statement is all the more regrettable as Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had himself offered cooperation in the investigation, during his visit to Kabul for condolences with Professor Rabbani's family and the Afghan people and Government.
'Instead of making such irresponsible statements, those in positions of authority in Kabul, should seriously deliberate as to why all those Afghans who are favourably disposed towards peace and towards Pakistan are systematically being removed from the scene and killed,' the statement said.
The statement said there is a need to take stock of the direction taken by Afghan Intelligence and security agencies. The spokesperson said Pakistan has unequivocally condemned the act of terrorism that led to the murder of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani and reiterated its commitment to peace and stability as well as to mutual respect.
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