Pakistan National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday said he would not travel to India for an upcoming conference on Afghanistan on November 10 as he dismissed India’s role as a “peacemaker” in the war-torn neighbouring nation. India extended the invitation to Pakistan to attend the regional conference on Afghanistan being hosted by Indian NSA Ajit Doval.
Yusuf said that he will not travel to India to attend the conference hosted by India on Afghanistan on November 10, Express Tribune newspaper reported. According to sources, even China has so far not confirmed participation and is unlikely to be represented physically in the conference.
In response to a question during a press conference, Yusuf said that a “spoiler” could not take on the role of a “peacemaker”, the report said. Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign office confirmed the invitation from India but said the decision would be taken at an appropriate time. India has also invited Russia, Iran, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for the conference.
Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had earlier said that Pakistan’s decision would be based on keeping in view the current state of the relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Yusuf said that Pakistan, unlike the West, could not disengage with Afghanistan due to its regional proximity.“It may be a luxury for the Western world sitting 10,000 miles away (to stay away from Afghanistan) but we do not have any option to disengage from Afghanistan,” he said.