Prof. Dr. Zahid Anwar Khan (Analyst): What happened in Frankfurt is a matter of International Law. The German authorities are responsible for protecting the Pakistani Consulate. This unfortunate incident shows that the Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are a matter of concern. If in the past there are ups and downs in the relations of both the countries than such incidents could occur. It could not be ruled out that some elements in Afghanistan are responsible for what happened in Frankfurt. This is not a first incident of its kind, it also happened in the past which could be the result of many reasons for example millions of Afghan national lived in Pakistan and were rehabilitated to their country, in the process, there may be many instances which could make Afghans to hold grudges against Pakistanis. And now after the withdrawal of NATO from Afghanistan, many Afghanis migrated to Europe and North America. On the other hand, India during the war against terrorism, used Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan. So the situation in the region is complex and we are cautiously looking at every aspect of this kind of development and dealing with it professionally.

The incident should be thoroughly investigated, why it happened, who were involved, who were responsible, who participated in the incident. After that we could be ascertained about why it happened, who were responsible, and what the real cause of this event was.

Mansour Ahmad Khan (Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan): This incident is shocking and condemnable act because Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to have brotherly relations for not few decade but for past two centuries. Even before and after the start of Afghan jihad, Pakistan has continued to support Afghans in many ways like providing humanitarian assistance, by opening its territory and borders for millions of Afghans whenever it was needed. Even recently when Taliban took over, Pakistan helped hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals to get evacuated to Pakistan, Germany or to some other country. In spite of some grudges and concerns among the two countries at some level, and having this kind of history, incident like this is not acceptable. It is against the spirit of brotherly relations between the two countries. It is also in contravention of UN Charter, International Law and Vienna Convention.

The German government should also ensure that adequate security is provided to diplomatic missions particularly to Pakistan Consulate and its personnel there.  Hope is this that this kind of incident will not be repeated and some sanity will prevail among the Afghanis who are protesting there. As Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighboring countries and we have to live with that. Generally speaking relations between and Pakistani and Afghans are very good, Afghans continue to come Pakistan in a very large number and have been retaining education in Pakistan.

Since 1990s, because of circumstances and developments made by some countries in their media for civilian opinions against Pakistan particularly Indian has been sponsoring lot of media channels and organizations there who are been inciting sentiments against Pakistan. But expression of these sentiments have been in a peaceful manner restricting to only TV programs or radio programs.

But this incident is very strange that some Afghan citizens in Frankfurt are engaging in protest against Pakistan and attacking consulate and desecrating flag. This is unthinkable and should not be acceptable. Pakistan Government should take whatever possible measures that could be taken in consultation with German authorities and it should also take up the matter with Afghan government because it is its responsibility that its citizens should behave in a decent manner abroad.

If we look at the issue of terrorism, it is a serious issue of Pakistan for many years. TTP presence has been there in Afghan soil even during the past government. This issue should be looked after politically. Pakistan should take whatever action is necessary on its territory in term of strengthen its security. As regards of activities of TTP elements present on Afghan soil, like there is Noor Wali Mehsud and other leaders and commanders, in that context there have to be a holistic dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan not only for dealing with this security issue but also dealing with issue of movement of people, and how trade should be facilitated so all these issue could be addressed simultaneously.