Ex-Pakistan Army chief General Bajwa heckled by Afghan man in France

The Pashto-speaking man accused Bajwa human rights violations in Afghanistan and accused him of helping the Taliban loot Afghanistan

An Afghan civilian heckled the former chief of the Pakistan Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, during a personal trip to France. In a video that has gone viral on social media, the man can be heard calling Bajwa names. The Pashto-speaking man called the former army chief a "murderer" and accused him of helping the Taliban plunder Afghanistan.

The Afghan civilian accused Bajwa of waging war under the name of Jihad in Afghanistan for the past 40 years. Bajwa is responsible for the human rights violations in Afghanistan, the man said.

In the video, Bajwa can be seen with his wife sitting on the road. Bajwa also attempted to stop the person from making the video and warned that he would call the police. However, the civilian was undaunted and said: "Bulao police (call the police)."

From November 2016 to November 2022, Bajwa was the chief of the army staff of Pakistan. During his tenure as army chief, the Taliban returned to power after toppling the civilian government of then-President Ashraf Ghani in August 2021.

There has been anger among a section of Afghans, who believe that the Pakistan army trained and aided the Taliban to take over the country. Just a day after the Taliban captured power, the then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan praised the militant organisation, saying that Afghanistan had broken the "shackles of slavery".

It is widely believed that Pakistan has played a significant role in assisting the Taliban to grab power in Afghanistan. The relationship between Pakistan and the Taliban dates back to the group's origins, with allegations of Pakistan providing training and support to the militant organisation.

Since the 1990s, Pakistan's military establishment has facilitated the rise of the militant organisation in Afghanistan as part of its regional pursuit of "strategic depth".

"Some in the Pakistani establishment sympathised with the Islamists' extreme ideology, while others deemed it an indispensable asset to counter India," The Financial Times had said in a report.