ISLAMABAD, May 26 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday confirming the
death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhter Mansour in a drone
strike said his body would not be handed over to anyone till result
of the DNA.
“All indicators confirm that the person killed in the drone
strike was Mullah Akhter Mansour who was travelling on a fake
identity,” Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign
Affairs told media persons here at the Foreign Office.
The Advisor said the DNA test result would be available soon.
Aziz, who made an unusual appearance at the weekly Foreign
Office briefing instead of FO spokesman, responded to the queries
mostly focusing on the hot issue of drone strike killing Mullah
Akhter Mansour.
Sartaj Aziz said the drone attack of May 21 had added to the
complexity of the Afghan conflict.
“We believe that this action has undermined the Afghan peace
process,” he said.
“The drone action was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty as
well as breach of the principles of the United Nations Charter
governing the conduct of the states. We have conveyed our serious
concern to the United States on this issue,” he said.
Aziz said during the quadrilateral meeting of May 18,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China had agreed that
politically negotiated settlement was the most viable option and had
stressed for continued efforts to bring Taliban on the table.
He regretted that “this understanding had not been respected”.
The Advisor recalled that earlier in July 2015, talks were
scuttled at a key stage when the issue of reduction in violence was
to be discussed and mentioned that in less than a year, peace
process had been scuttled twice.
Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan was of the view that there was no
military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and the use of
force for past 15 years had failed to deliver peace.
“We believe this approach will further destabilize
Afghanistan, which will have negative implications for the region,
especially due to the presence of large number of terrorist groups
in Afghanistan,” he said.
He stressed that a politically negotiated settlement remained
the most viable option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan and
added that the military approach tried for 15 years could not
achieve the objective.