The ISIS-affiliated terrorist group has been involved in several attacks in Pakistan. Islamabad has long suspected the group of being the proxy of Indian intelligence service Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
KABUL: Afghanistan on Saturday turned down Pakistan’s demand to handover Aslam Farooqi, the leader of the Afghanistan affiliate of the militant Islamic State (IS) group, arrested by the Afghan authorities last week.
Farooqi was arrested by Afghan spy agency National Directorate of Security (NDS), saying he was the mastermind of a recent attack on a gurdwara in Kabul in which some 26 people were killed.
Subsequently, on Thursday, Islamabad summoned Afghanistan envoy Atif Mashal and demanded that Farooqi be handed over to Pakistan, saying that the activities of the ISIS affiliate “were clearly detrimental to Pakistan”.
A Foreign Office statement had said Ambassador Mashal was “called to convey Pakistan’s views with regard to the arrest of Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) leader”.
However, on Saturday, the Afghan Foreign Ministry announced to turn down the demand, maintaining that Farooqi was involved in the killing of hundreds of Afghans, therefore, he should be tried under the law of the country.
The ministry further noted that Afghanistan and Pakistan have no extradition treaty and Kabul was under no obligation to hand over the terrorist. However, it added that Islamabad and Kabul “could work together to curb terrorism in the region”.
It merits a mention here that Foreign Office emphasised that Islamabad had been expressing its concerns over the activities of the militant group, which were clearly detrimental to Pakistan.
According to the FO statement, since Farooqi was involved in anti-Pakistan activities in Afghanistan, he should be handed over to Pakistan for further investigation.
The ISIS-affiliated terrorist group has been involved in several attacks in Pakistan. Islamabad has long suspected that the group enjoys the tacit support of the Afghan intelligence agency. It also accused the group of being the proxy of Indian intelligence service Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
