Afghan government has right to hot pursuit, says Mustikhan

Pajhwok Correspondent - Jun 18, 2008 - 14:50

NEW YORK (PAN): A Washington-based Baluch organization has welcomed the statement of President Hamid Karzai that Afghanistan has the right to self defense and to send its troops across the border to destroy the terrorists living there.

"It is a very legitimate statement. People of Baluchistan would not only welcome but also would provide full support to Afghan forces in defeating the terrorists who are sheltered by Pakistani authorities," Ahmar Mustikhan, founder-member of the American Friends of Balochistan , told Pajhwok Afghan News in an interview.

A senior diplomat-based in Washington also told Pajhwok Afghan News that a number of Pakistan-based organizations have welcomed the statement made by President Karzai in Kabul early this week.

"We believe Afghanistan has complete right to pursue terrorists. There should be no doubt in any one mind that today Pakistan is main source of international terrorism," Mustikhan said.

Arguing that the right to hot pursuit is recognized even by the United Nations, Mustikhan alleged that ISI-supported terrorists organizations based in Pakistan were responsible for the attack on Kandahar prison in which some 900 criminals and terrorists were freed.

"The action that the Afghan Government would take is fully justified for the simple reason that the area from which Afghanistan is being attacked has historically belonged to Afghanistan ," he claimed. "This (Afghan forces attacking terrorists) is what the people of Baluchistan have hoped for and prayed for the past 60 years," he added.

Asserting that President Karzai holds hope for the entire region, he said: "Karzai is the hope for the suffering people of Pashtunistan and for suffering people of Baluchistan . We want him to send his forces at the earliest."

"We are of the considerate opinion that what is happening in Kandahar and other places, the main people behind these operations are the same and all the roads would lead to the GHQ in Rawalpindi," he said.

"We are all out to support the Government of Afghanistan in whatever way possible. If a call comes from Kabul , I am very sure, thousands of Baluch youths would go in support of the Afghan government," Mustikhan said.