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Pakistani leader roasts own country: ‘Not even a pomegranate can enter from Afghan, but terrorists can’
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman slammed Pakistan's broader foreign policy, saying that Islamabad's diplomacy had proven destructive for the country.
Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday took a swipe at his own country's military and its handling of growing militancy issues, saying that not even a single pomegranate from Afghanistan can enter Islamabad, and yet somehow, terrorists are entering the country.
Rehman was addressing a public gathering in Rawalpindi when he made these remarks amid Pakistan's repeated claims that militants were entering the country from Afghanistan.
He said that the citizens of Pakistan want to ask the country's policy makers why nobody, from Zahir Shah to today's Amarat-e-Islamiyah, has been able to work with Pakistan?
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"Different people came, a communist government came, a jihadist-led ruling came, the Taliban's regime came, and so did the pro-Pakistanis. Yet, before criticising, have you ever thought why my Afghan policy has been failing for the last 78 years?" Rehman asked.
He said authorities are saying that terrorists come into Pakistan from Afghanistan. "If they are coming, then stop them, eliminate them. The Afghan government has never objected to your moves," Rehman added.
The JUI-F chief emphasised that the strange thing here is that "not even a single pomegranate or a melon from Afghanistan can enter Pakistan, and yet somehow, terrorists come into the country".
Rehman went on to criticise Pakistan's broader foreign policy, describing it as a total "failure". He said that Islamabad's diplomacy had proven destructive for the country.
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"We are fighting with India, we have tensions with Afghanistan, China is upset, and so is Iran. And in this atmosphere, they think they are fighting Pakistan's war," Rehman said, adding that all that they have done is "destroy" the country.
Islamabad mosque suicide bombing
Rehman's remarks fall against the backdrop of the suicide bombing at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 31 people.
Over 170 others were injured in the explosion. An attacker had first opened fire at the gates of the mosque and then detonated the suicide bomb after the guards challenged him as he tried to make his way into the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah compound, Reuters reported.
Pakistan's defence minister Khwaja Asif wrote in a post on X that the man blew "himself up in the last row of worshippers." He also alleged that the attacker travelled to and from Afghanistan.
Pakistan's minister of state for interior, Talal Chaudhry, also reportedly said that the bomber was a Pakistani citizen who made several trips to Afghanistan.
However, the Taliban ministry of defense's spokesperson, Inayat Khwarazmi, rubbished the allegations, terming them "illogical" and "baseless". Afghanistan urged the Pakistani authorities to address lapses in their internal security rather than blaming neighbours, KabulNow reported.
