English
Kabul: Even as India expressed concern that Afghanistan territory could be used for anti-India activity under the Taliban regime, the insurgent group on Friday said it has the right to raise its voice for Muslims anywhere including in Kashmir. However, the militant group added that it does not have the policy to raise arms against any country.
Suhail Shaheen, Taliban spokesman for its political office in Doha, in an exclusive interview to BBC through video link on Thursday, said: “We will raise our voice and say that Muslims are your own people, your own citizens and they are entitled to equal rights under your law.”
Shaheen further added that as Muslims, it was the group’s right to speak out for Muslims living in Kashmir and any other country.
While recalling the terms of the Doha agreement with the US, he said they had “no policy of conducting armed operations against any country”.
Shaheen’s remarks came days after the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said Indian envoy to Qatar Deepak Mittal met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban’s Political Office in Doha, at the request of the group.
However, Shaheen’s remarks are in contrast with the group’s earlier statements on Kashmir which had said that Kashmir is a “bilateral and an internal matter”.
Earlier, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said that India’s immediate focus in Afghanistan is to ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorist activities against it and it was still “very early days” to talk about any possible recognition to the Taliban.
Besides Kashmir, it shortlisted the Levant, comprising Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon; Maghreb, or the region in northwest Africa consisting of Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia and Somalia; and Yemen on its priorities.
