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ISLAMABAD - PAKISTANI Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday condemned Afghanistan's president for alleging that Islamabad's intelligence services were involved in a string of recent attacks.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday directly accused Pakistani military intelligence of orchestrating a wave of bloody unrest by Islamic militants, including an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, that has left scores dead.
Mr Gilani 'has strongly condemned the Afghan president's statement that Pakistan is involved in a series of terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan,' a Pakistani government statement said.
'Afghan leaders should not give such statements as it will hamper the development process in the region,' it quoted Mr Gilani as saying before a cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
Violence has spiralled in Afghanistan in the past fortnight, including a militant assault on a NATO outpost on Sunday that killed nine American soldiers and a suicide attack on the Indian embassy on July 7 that killed more than 40.
Mr Karzai has stepped up allegations against Pakistan in recent months, saying in June that Afghanistan would be justified in attacking militant sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of their porous border.
Mr Karzai said in a statement on Monday that 'the murder, killing, destruction, dishonouring and insecurity in Afghanistan is carried out by the intelligence administration of Pakistan, its military intelligence institutions.' 'We know who kills innocent people,' the Afghan president said. 'We have told the government of Pakistan and the world and from now on it will be pronounced by every member of the Afghan nation.' Mr Gilani however said Islamabad had 'time and again declared on all forums that a stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and entire region.
'Pakistan has provided all-out support for the establishment of a stable government in Afghanistan,' he was quoted as saying in the statement.
Afghanistan regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting militants who have been waging a deadly insurgency in the nation since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion.
Pakistan backed the hardline Taliban until coming under pressure from Washington after the 9/11 attacks on the United States to drop their support and back the invasion. -- AFP
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