India disrupting Pak-Afghan ties, says Rehman Malik

New Delhi: Former Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik alleged on Wednesday that India was disrupting the normalcy in the Pak-Afghan bilateral relations.

Rehman Malik, who currently serves as the chairman of the Senate standing committee on interior and narcotics control, said the Indian leadership and intelligence agencies did not want Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their outstanding bilateral issues through dialogues.

Malik's allegations came at a time when Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Islamabad to attend the Heart of Asia conference. He further alleged that Indian intelligence agencies, including Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), were instigating and funding militancy in Balochistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Karachi.

"Whenever Pakistan makes efforts to open talks with Afghanistan to resolve issues involving the two countries, Indians create hurdles," Malik blamed.

He called upon the Nawaz Sharif government to take up the issue of Indian alleged interference with Sushma Swaraj. Claiming that there was enough evidence testifying India's role in destabilising Pakistan, Malik asked Nawaz Sharif to make public the evidence and table them before Sushma Swaraj.

Rehman also said that Pakistan should raise the burning issues of Kashmir and water sharing of common rivers with India at the conference.

Underscoring the need for a peaceful Afghanistan, Malik said, the subversive activities in the war-ravaged nation was overflowing into the Pakistani lands and making situation volatile there.

In a bid to restore peace and stability in the militancy-infested Afghanistan, Pakistan had made sacrifices and contributed massively for mutual benefit, Malik added.

Earlier, Pakistan invited Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for the 'Heart of Asia' conference held in Islamabad on 7th and 8th December. The Afghan conference was aimed at addressing the unstable condition of Afghanistan.

Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UAE attended the conference.

(With inputs from agencies)