By Chathushka Perera
Islamabad, Pakistan (CWBN)_ British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr. Christian Turner, met with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, yesterday (17th Dec), to discuss matters of mutual interest, including regional security.
Turner extended the UK’s appreciation toward Pakistan efforts in pushing toward peace in Afghanistan, and stressed the necessity to maintain regional peace and stability. Further details of the meeting have not been released to the media.
The meeting follows Bajwa’s pledge for continued support toward the Afghan peace process, three days ago, during a meeting with US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad and Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Austin Scott Miller.
Moreover, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, informed the United Nations Security Council, yesterday, that it is expected that “violence will be a top priority when the peace talks resume in early January.”
However, amid the developments the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission announced that 114 civilians have been killed and another 300 have been wounded over the course of the last three months.
As per Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports, an estimated 117,000 displacements have been reported over the first half of 2020. However, these figures reflect on the situation prior to the escalation of violence in the country over a stagnant peace process during the last three to four months.
The UN recently projected that over 5 million Afghans will require humanitarian assistance next year.
