Pakistan, Afghanistan to take action against fugitives, irreconcilable militants: Foreign Office

Islamabad: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to take action against fugitives and the irreconcilable militants under a bilateral agreement for regional peace and security, the Foreign Office said on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_4333197” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] In a statement, it said that the two sides have agreed to “operationalise the working groups under Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS)” during Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s visit to Kabul on 6 April. It said that Pakistan was committed to “support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation.” “The two countries to undertake effective actions against fugitives and the irreconcilable elements posing security threats to either of the two countries,” it further said. “Both countries commit to deny use of their respective territories by any country, network, group or individuals for anti-state activities against either country,” according to APAPPS. They agreed to put in place a joint supervision, coordination and confirmation mechanism through Liaison Officers for the realisation of the agreed actions. The two countries vowed to avoid territorial and aerial violations of each other’s territory. The two countries also agreed to avoid public blame game and instead use APAPPS cooperation mechanisms to respond to mutual issues of contention and concerns. They would establish Working Groups and necessary cooperation mechanism as per APAPPS for full its implementation and the above mutually reinforcing principles. The APAPPS was agreed in February and the officials of the two countries held several high-level meetings before it was decided to operationalise the agreement.