ISLAMABAD, 08 August 2021, (TON): The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) president for the month of August, for denying Pakistan an opportunity to address the council as a neighbouring country with a direct stake in peace in Afghanistan.

The council had convened an emergency meeting to discuss rising violence in Afghanistan. The meeting was called after Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar spoke to India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the wake of Taliban’s assault on major cities and an attack on the residence of Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi in Kabul.

“We made a formal request for participation but it was denied,” Pakistan's ambassador to the UN Munir Akram told a press conference in New York hours after the UNSC discussed the situation in the war-torn country.

“Obviously, we do not expect fairness from the Indian presidency for Pakistan.”

Pakistan's UN envoy also strongly deplored allegations made by the Afghan and Indian diplomats that terrorists use Pakistan’s territory as a safe haven. He said that the country’s border with Afghanistan had been fenced and there was no free flow of people.

Akram said “we would never allow our soil to be used to destabilise Afghanistan and expect the same from Afghanistan.”