'Declare Pak., Afghanistan terrorist States'

NEW DELHI, MARCH 9. The All-India Shia Sunni Front (AISSF) and the All-India Muslim Unity Front (AIMUF) today said the United Nations should ``declare Pakistan and Afghanistan as terrorist countries.''

Staging a demonstration against the destruction of Buddhist statues by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the chairman of AISSF, Mr. Z. Ahmed, said, ``we call upon the world community to condemn the destructive act and ask the U.N. to declare Pakistan and Afghanistan as terrorist countries.''

``This act will damage Muslim image internationally,'' the president of AIMUF, Mr. Mohammed Younus Siddiqui, said. They later submitted a memorandum at the United Nations, the Afghanistan embassy, and the Pakistan High Commission.

`ISI handiwork'

The Afghanistan Ambassador to India, Mr. Masood Khalili, charged Pakistan's Inter-services Intelligence with masterminding the destruction of the Buddhist relics and said there was a ``political agenda`` behind it.

``I cannot help myself not to say that Pakistan has been a part of this drama,'' Mr. Khalili, representating the Rabbani regime, said participating in a discussion programme on Doordarshan.

The Taliban and their ``mentors'' had a strategy ``for a long time to reach central Asia to threaten other countries.'' Afghans, both within the country and outside, ``have indeed not just worried but wept'' when they heard about the destruction.

They have always held Lord Buddha in high esteem as ``part of their culture, literature and Sufi tradition. ``They admired this personality (Buddha) who was in search of the great light,'' Mr. Khalili said.

- PTI

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