Rally to protest Pakistan’s ISI meddling in Afghanistan
NEWS RELEASE
Toronto - July 8, 2011
Afghan Community in Canada Demands End to ISI Interference in Afghanistan
Afghan-Canadians will rally to protest the longstanding meddling of Pakistan’s notorious intelligence agency, the Inter-services Intelligence (ISI), in neighbouring Afghanistan. The event will take place:
Saturday, July 9, 2011, 10:30am
Queen’s Park, Toronto
Babur Mawladin is the president of the Canada Afghanistan Solidarity Committee: “The Afghan community in Ontario organized this rally to protest and condemn the Pakistani Army and the ISI for its continuing support to al Qaeda, to the Taliban and to other terrorist groups.” Mawladin says that the ISI supports the ongoing violence in Afghanistan by providing sanctuary and other forms of support to terrorists who then enter Afghanistan from Pakistan to carry out suicide bombings and other acts of violence. “These criminal elements are responsible for much bloodshed and the loss of innocent civilian life in Afghanistan and Pakistan and pose a persistent national security threat to Afghanistan and all over the world,” says Mawladin.
Several terrorist organizations are known to operate from Pakistani territory, such as the Taliban’s Quetta Shura, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami and the Haqqani Network. The Taliban recently claimed responsibility for an attack on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel during a wedding, which took the lives of 10 civilians, in addition to the eight attackers, and injured over a dozen people. The ISI was also recently linked to the torture and murder of Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, who disappeared on May 29th. In June, the Pakistani Army fired over 450 rockets into Afghan territory, killing 36 people and causing hundreds more to flee.
The Afghan-Canadian community will also release a declaration on the day of the rally calling for action from the United Nations’ Security Council in response to the ISI’s complicity in atrocities being committed against Afghan civilians. The group wants to see the enforcement of UN Resolution Resolution 1378 and other past resolutions regarding the export of terrorism by neighbouring countries and the need for non-interference in Afghanistan’s affairs by neighbouring countries, notably Pakistan and Iran.
Media Contact: info@afghanistan-canada-
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