Pakistan on Thursday rejected as "irresposible" and "gross interference" Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani's tweet over recent incidents of alleged violence against protesters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Ghani had expressed serious concern about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, both bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi took to Twitter to reject Ghani's tweet, saying "We reject the tweet by President Ashraf Ghani. Such irresponsible statements are only gross interference. Afghan leadership needed to focus on long-standing serious grievances of the Afghan people."
Qureshi's tweet came hours after the Afghanistan President tweeted that the Afghan government had "serious concerns about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protesters and civil activists" in the two provinces.
Ghani also said it was the moral responsibility of every government to support civil activities that take a stand against terrorism and extremism that "plagues and threatens our region and collective security."
The Afghanistan President was apparently referring to the alleged killing of a Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader over the weekend in Loralai area of Balochistan.
Protests and sit-in followed the PTM leader's death in Balochistan and neighbouring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The PTM emerged last year to address the grievances of local Pashtun population in areas close to border with Afghanistan.
PTM is a rights-based alliance that calls for the de-mining of the former tribal areas and greater freedom of movement. It has been demanding an end to the practices of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detentions.
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