Pakistan fired 28,849 artillery shells into Afghanistan between 2012 and 2017, resulting in deaths of at least 82 people and injuring 187 others. Afghanistan alleged that the violations dated back to 2012 but had increased in frequency since 2017

KABUL: Afghanistan has written to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) complaining to the multilateral body about Pakistan’s “interference”, including belligerent moves of its army, in the country’s internal affairs.

In a letter written on February 22, the Afghan government raised the issue of “consistent violations of Afghanistan’s territory” by Pakistani forces and called on the UN to initiate “necessary measures to address the matter at hand in an effective manner”.

According to the letter, Pakistan fired 28,849 artillery shells into Afghanistan between 2012 and 2017, resulting in deaths of at least 82 people and injuring 187 others.

This was Afghanistan’s second letter to the UNSC in a week. The first letter was about a planned meeting between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Taliban’s representatives in Islamabad. In that letter, the Afghan government said the meeting “undermines” the Afghan peace process and “violates Afghanistan’s national sovereignty”. The Taliban called off the meet saying they were unable to travel because of the UN and US travel restrictions on them.

The development comes amid reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, a process in which Pakistan envisages itself as a power broker.

“The nature of these violations mainly includes persistent shelling of Afghan territory, particularly in districts and villages of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces; violation of Afghan air space by Pakistani military aircraft, as well as construction of military posts, barbwire fence and barriers inside Afghanistan’s territory, most recently in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar,” Nazifullah Salarzai, Afghanistan’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, wrote in the letter.

Afghanistan alleged that the violations dated back to 2012 but had increased in frequency since 2017. The letter said that since the beginning of 2018, the number of violations by Pakistan in Afghanistan stood at 161 while 6,025 artillery shells were fired into Afghan territory.