Kabul: Deputy Foreign Minister of Taliban Afghanistan, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, has warned Pakistan of a 1971-like Partition that saw the birth of Bangladesh. Stanikzai’s warning came as Pakistan was driving away Afghans from its territory into Afghanistan. He said the Pashtuns, who live on both sides of the international border, never accepted the Durand Line that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We have never recognized Durand and will never recognize it. Today, half of Afghanistan is separated and is on the other side of the Durand Line. Durand is the line which was drawn by the English on the heart of Afghans,” Stanikzai was quoted by Tolo News as saying at a public meeting on February 16.
“And today, our neighboring country deports the refugees in a very cruel manner, and they are being told to return to their country,” Stanikzai said. The Balochistan Post reported that Sanikzai warned that such atrocities could result in events similar to the 1971 separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
In 2023, Pakistan cracked down on Afghan refugees, demanding that all undocumented migrants leave the country by November 1. This decision left the future of an estimated 1.7 million Afghans in Pakistan shrouded in uncertainty and fear.
Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, vehemently dismissed the Taliban’s stance on the Durand Line. “For Pakistan, the matter of the Durand Line is conclusively settled,” Durrani was quoted by Khaama.com as saying. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry had earlier called the Taliban’s non-recognition of the Durand Line “selfish and baseless”.
In 2023, bombings and gun attacks by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) killed nearly 1,000 Pakistanis, half of them security personnel, according to a Voice of America report in January this year.
