Thaindian News

Islamabad, Dec 5 (IANS) Pakistan Monday said it wants a positive outcome from the international conference being held in the German city of Bonn to draw up a roadmap for Afghanistan’s future.

Pakistan has boycotted the one-day conference in protest against the Nov 26 NATO raid on its two border posts, which killed 24 of its soldiers and injured 13 others.

Pakistan stayed away from the event despite world leaders urging it to change its boycott decision.

“Pakistan’s participation in the Bonn conference was not possible. However, Islamabad is closely monitoring the proceedings in Bonn,” Xinhua quoted Abdul Basit, spokesman of the foreign ministry, as saying.

“We did not participate in the conference but Pakistan wants peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Basit told a state television in an interview.

He said Pakistan’s absence in the international conference does not mean that Islamabad has lost interest in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan would continue helping our neighbouring country in promotion of the peace process,” he added.

“We want the reconciliation process in Afghanistan to be revived as instability affects the whole region and the world.”

He said Pakistan’s problems and proposals for Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation should not be ignored.

Pakistani political leadership and the media were divided over the Bonn boycott issue. Some media organisations, several senior political leaders and former diplomats were of the view that Pakistan should have attended the conference.

Both former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao opposed the boycott decision, saying Pakistan should have shared its opinion and concern with world delegates at the conference.