Khan’s comments come as the US and the Taliban appear on the brink of a deal that would see US forces begin to pull out of Afghanistan.

In return, the Taliban would enter talks with the Afghan government, stick to various security guarantees and work toward an eventual, comprehensive cease-fire.

Pakistan, which has long been accused of supporting the Taliban and other groups along its border with Afghanistan, is seen as key to helping secure and implement any deal.

“I can tell you that there are no safe havens here,” Khan said at a conference in the capital Islamabad, AFP reported.

“Whatever the situation might have been in the past, right now, I can tell you … There is one thing we want: peace in Afghanistan.”

Khan’s comments came after Sarwar Danish, Afghanistan’s second vice president, accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to recruit new fighters from Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

Khan was addressing a conference marking 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in his country.

While Pakistan cannot “completely guarantee” that no Taliban are hiding among the estimated 2.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan, Khan said his government had done all it can to prevent attacks in Afghanistan, including by building a border fence.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has for more than a year led talks between the Taliban and Washington, also attended the conference. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” about progress toward an eventual deal.

The US has “commitments from the Talibs on security issues,” he said.

The Taliban, Afghanistan’s security forces and the US are supposed to be launching a seven-day “reduction in violence,” officials announced last week. The move is part of a confidence-building measure ahead of the announcement of a fuller deal.

But bloodshed continued over the weekend, including a Taliban attack in Kunduz province.

Refugees began flowing into Pakistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and continued to come during the Taliban rule.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, credited the nation for supporting Afghan refugees.

“For 40 years, the people of Afghanistan have faced successive crises, for 40 years, the people of Pakistan have responded with solidarity,” Guterres said while calling on the international community to do more.

“As we look to the challenges ahead, the global community must step up,” he said.

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Citing the increasing intensity and frequency of Kashmir ceasefire violations by India along the LoC (de-factor border between India and Pakistan), Imran Khan said that the Indian leadership could attempt a possible “false flag operation” – a possible covert cross-border operation.

“As Indian Occupation forces continue to target & kill civilians across the LOC with increasing intensity & frequency, there is an urgent need for UN SC to insist India allow UNMOGIP return to IOJK-side of LOC. We fear an Indian false flag operation,” said Khan in a tweet on Sunday, Sputnik reported.

He added that there is an urgent need for the UNSC to pressure India to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to monitor ceasefire violations.

Khan also warned India that it won’t remain a mere observer to the increasing intensity and frequency of ceasefire violations.

“I want to make clear to India and the international community that if India continues its military attacks killing civilians across LOC, Pakistan will find it increasingly difficult to remain an inactive observer along the LOC”, he said.

The two nations have accused each other of violating a 2003 ceasefire agreement over 3,000 times to date.

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations escalated after New Delhi took the decision to revoke Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in August 2018, which had ensured the special status of Jammu and Kashmir for decades.

Ever since the state was stripped of its special status, Pakistan has been on a diplomatic offensive on Kashmir, alleging human rights violations in the region.

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Pakistan’s opposition Muslim League had earlier sought unconditional permission to take the ailing former PM Nawaz Sharif, to London for treatment, warning Prime Minister Imran Khan that if anything happened to Sharif, he would be responsible for it.

The family of Nawaz Sharif wanted to take the ailing leader out of the country for treatment and asked the government to remove his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) to facilitate travel abroad. The Interior Ministry subsequently granted the former premier a “one-time” conditional permission to travel abroad. PML-N, however, rejected the condition and challenged it in the Lahore High Court.

Responding to PML-N’s charges, Prime Minister Imran Khan said he holds no grudge against Nawaz Sharif and that the health of the ailing former premier was more important than politics. According to reports, Khan told the core committee of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice) that the government had facilitated at every forum to get the name of Sharif off of the Exit Control List (ECL).

Imran Khan, however, regretted that PML-N and the family of Sharif were playing politics with the health of the 69-year-old politician. He said the family’s first priority should be taking him abroad for treatment, instead of wrangling over the issue, Sputnik reported.

Sharif has been in the custody of the federal anti-corruption watchdog, National Accountability Bureau since December 2018 after he was sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption charges, which the former premier had called politically motivated.

As Sharif’s health deteriorated in detention, the Lahore High Court granted him bail on medical grounds, while the Islamabad High Court suspended the seven-year jail-term for treatment.

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“The Islamic Republic of Iran presented a four-point plan to end war in Yemen a long time ago and if this war ends in a right way, it can have positive effects in the region,” Leader said during a meeting with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The Leader described peace and security in West Asia as very “sensitive” and “important” and expressed regret over certain regional countries’ “destructive” role in supporting terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria and causing war and bloodshed in Yemen.

He added, “We have no motivation for animosity with these countries, but they are influenced by the United States and act against the Islamic Republic of Iran in line with the United States’ will.”

Elsewhere in his talks with Prime Minister Khan, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran has never initiated a war “but if anyone starts a war against Iran will undoubtedly regret.”

In April 2015, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif submitted a letter to Ban Ki-moon, then UN secretary general, outlining Iran’s four-point peace plan for Yemen.

The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and end of all foreign military attacks, humanitarian assistance, a resumption of broad national dialogue and establishment of an inclusive national unity government.

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khamenei described Iran-Pakistan relations as brotherly and attached importance to expansion of ties and promotion of security in borders.

For his part, Khan called Iran and Pakistan brotherly countries and said that Islamabad seeks to expand relations with Iran.

Pakistan considers Iran an “important partner” especially in economic area, the prime minister said.

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IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

According To Iran News, Prime Minister Imran Khan says Pakistan will do its utmost to enable talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia as he arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials.

“Pakistan does not want conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia…I am happy to facilitate talks between Tehran and Riyadh…I am very hopeful as I had constructive talks with the (Iranian) president,” he said at a joint news conference with Hassan Rouhani.

“Any effort based on goodwill is welcomed … during the meeting, we agreed that the regional issues can be resolved through diplomacy and through dialogue between countries,” Rouhani responded.

After meeting Iranian President Rouhani and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Khan said he will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Accompanied by his aide Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Khan arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport earlier Sunday.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement said the visit would focus on “peace and security in the region.”

It is Khan’s second visit to Tehran this year amid an escalation in regional tensions.

Meanwhile yesterday President Rouhani said the country would respond to any goodwill gesture with goodwill, and believes regional issues can be resolved through dialogue.

“Any kind of goodwill and good speech will be responded with good, suitable speech,” Rouhani said in a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

President Rouhani stressed that Tehran and Islamabad both share the view that regional issues must be resolved through political ways and dialogue.

“In our meeting, we expressed our concerns about the safety and security of oil tankers, especially what happened to the Iranian tanker on Friday in the Red Sea.”

“We also presented the leads that we have acquired on the issue and stressed that we will continue our investigations until we reach the final conclusion,” said Rouhani.

He said “if a country thinks that it can create insecurity in the region and not receive any response, it is gravely mistaken.”

“Mr Imran Khan made some points about the critical region of Persian Gulf, which we approve. The Prime Minister of Pakistan also stressed that the key to regional issues is ending the war in Yemen, immediate cease-fire and helping the Yemenis, which can be a very good start,” he said.

“Today, we also talked about bilateral relations and deepening economic cooperation between the two countries. We also discussed issues related to security in the two countries’ borders and activating border markets,” said Rouhani.

He said Iran and Pakistan enjoy profound strategic relations and both parties believe that these ties need to continue.

In this meeting, the Zionist Regime’s threats to regional security were explained to the Pakistani officials, said Rouhani.

The President went on to state that the United States’ unjust sanctions against the Iranian nation was another issue that was discussed in the meeting.

“The unjust U.S. sanctions against the Iranian nation is economic terrorism. In this meeting, we discussed how the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as an important agreement, can be returned to its previous states and be implemented.”

“We also highlighted the basic key fact that for the settlement of the issue, the United States has to return to the JCPOA and abandon sanctions,” he continued.

Appreciating Imran Khan for his visit to Tehran, the president said, “We welcome the Pakistani Prime Minister’s goodwill and effort for resolving regional issues so that full peace and security returns to our critical region.”

At the same press conference, Imran Khan referred to the friendly relations between the two countries and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been a friendly neighbor to Pakistan and supported us in hard times.”

Pakistani PM in Tehran Holds Constructive Talks

He also appreciated Tehran’s stances in supporting the people of Kashmir.

Any kind of new conflict in the region will be to the detriment of regional nations and to the benefit of foreigners, he said, adding, “The peoples of the region, including those of Afghanistan and Syria, are still suffering from the consequences of terrorism, therefore, no new conflict must begin in the region.”

Stating that any kind of conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia will affect the entire region, Imran Khan said, “We believe that disputes can be settled through dialogue.”

Referring to his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, the Pakistani PM said, “In the visit, I will offer Pakistan’s initiatives for peace and stability and ending disputes and tensions.”

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Tehran on Sunday morning to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments with Iranian officials.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Pakistan’s top diplomat said Prime Minister Imran Khan will travel to Iran’s capital Tehran on Saturday before heading to Saudi Arabia to try and ease tensions between the two Persian Gulf countries.

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Khan, who was on an official visit to China, returned to Pakistan on Wednesday to finalize his future trips to Tehran and Riyadh. Mehr quoted Pakistani media as saying.

Sources have said the visit to Tehran will take place upon a request from officials in Riyadh.

The Pakistani prime minister is likely to travel to Iran and Saudi Arabia until next week.

The media did not give details.

Earlier, Khan had said that he was making an effort to mediate between Tehran and Riyadh. Last month, he held talks with Saudi Arabia’s leaders in Riyadh. After that he held one with President Rouhani of Iran on the sidelines of the annual United Nations conference in New York.

The Pakistani prime minister visited Iran in May 2019. He has also traveled to Saudi Arabia five times.

PA/PA

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On August 5, India, through a presidential decree, revoked the special autonomy status of disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority state with the rest of the country. The move has erupted protests all over Pakistan, while the Indian controlled Kashmir region is under lockdown. Pakistan and India both have a claim over Kashmir in its entirety and had three wars over the disputed territory.

Rouhani went on to add, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always made efforts to reduce tensions and unrest in the region, and we believe that the Muslims of Kashmir must be able to use their legal rights and interests to be able to live in peace.”

The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said “regrettably, Kashmir is going through some upsetting incidents committed against innocent people, which are against international regulations.”

Pakistan is deeply concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region, he said, adding, “As an important country in the region and the Muslim world, the Islamic Republic of Iran can play a positive role in the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.”

The two sides then turned to bilateral relations, with President Rouhani congratulating the Pakistani nation and government on the advent of Eid al-Adha.

“Iran and Pakistan have always been on close and amicable terms, and we will continue this trend,” Rouhani promised, adding “Iran is seeking to develop cooperation and relations with its neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, in different fields, including development of common border markets.”

“Because of the unilateral and unjust sanctions of the United States, Iran is in special conditions, but it will do its best to ensure sustainable security of navigation in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, as well as development of commercial and economic relations with its neighbors,” Rouhani stressed.

Imran Khan also congratulated the Iranian nation and government on the advent of Eid al-Adha and described Iran-Pakistan relations as friendly and close, stressing the need for further development of relations between the two sides.

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World leaders should not compare Iran with other countries and should understand how dangerous it will be to wage war against it, Imran Khan added.

Pakistan will do its best to reduce tensions in the region, he stressed.

Tensions in the region initially erupted after Washington withdraw from the nuclear deal and imposed economic sanctions on Iran, mainly targeting its oil revenues. US hostile policies didn’t end here as Trump administration also designated Iran’s IRGC, which is in charge of providing the Persian Gulf with security, as a foreign terrorist organization and also in their latest measure, imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif; a measure which many experts believe to prove the empty claims of US about readiness for talks with Iran.

After Iran seized a UK-flagged oil tanker in the Persian Gulf because it had failed to abide by international maritime regulations, US proposed to establish a coalition in the Persian Gulf claiming it to be aimed at securing international waters but believed to be a coalition against Iran; this can eventually escalate the already tense situation in the Middle East.

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