- The News -
Underscoring Pakistan's contributions to the war against extremists and militancy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said the war on terror has wrecked the internal stability of Pakistan.
He said Pakistan had rendered a lot more sacrifices than the international forces in Afghanistan and the West must reciprocate by helping in revitalising its economy and enhancing its capacity to counter terrorism.
He expressed these views while delivering a talk on 'Situation in Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism' at the University of Oxford here late on Saturday. The event was held at the Frewin Court and organised jointly by the Oxford Pakistan Society and the Oxford Union as part of the Pakistan Young Leaders Conference.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is himself a student at the university, was among a large number of students who had gathered to listen to the speech of the foreign minister. A portrait of his late mother, Benazir Bhutto, hung in the historic hall, along with other academic luminaries and politicians, who had studied at the prestigious institution.
"Pakistan continues to fight for its own reasons, but the international community must assist the country in enhancing our capacity to counter terrorism and provide economic assistance to stabilise the economy, because there is a linkage between deprivation, poverty and extremism," he said.
Qureshi said Pakistan had been supportive of this fight against terrorism ever since the troops of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) moved into Afghanistan, but the fight lacked political ownership. "Today, the democratically-elected government has given this fight ownership and that has been the difference."
He spoke of the successful operations launched in Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan. He said an area one third of the size of England was cleansed of miscreants and over two million internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned home in a matter of 10 weeks and had started rebuilding their lives.
He said the world was beginning to realise Pakistan's contributions and the sacrifices rendered by its people. "All the coalition forces put together in Afghanistan have not had as many casualties as we had. The economic cost of this conflict to Pakistan has been over $35 billion. Through our national efforts we are taking on the extremists," he said.
Qureshi pointed out that the London Conference on Afghanistan had realised Pakistan's point of view that money derived from drugs smuggling and opium cultivation in Afghanistan was fanning and helping terrorism and that not enough attention had been paid to choke the flow of illicit arms.
Pakistan, he said, had called for regional and international efforts to stop this menace, but now, the international community had realised these shortcomings and the London Conference had agreed to address all the concerns, including the issue of capacity-building, good governance and elimination of corruption as well as reconciliation and reintegration of the saner elements of Taliban and al-Qaeda.
On relations with India, he said Pakistan was not begging for peace with its eastern neighbour, but peace was important for the region and could best be promoted through trade links. "We do have outstanding issues with India and wants to resolve them peacefully. Only when the threat on the eastern front is diminished then we could concentrate on the western borders. Two fronts situation is not in Pakistan's favour."
The foreign minister said Pakistan was interested in result-orient talks with India and this he made it clear to his Indian counterpart when they last met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting. "We are not interested merely in photo session, but want concrete actions on the roadmap we gave to the Indians."
He, however, was hopeful that the fifth round of the composite dialogue, which remained suspended following the Mumbai attacks, would resume soon. On relations with other countries, Qureshi pointed out Pakistan had entered into a strategic dialogue with the UK and Germany, while a similar framework had been prepared with France. He added that a strategic dialogue with the US was also in the offing.
He said Pakistan had upgraded its relations with the European Union and the second Pakistan-EU summit would take place in April this year, with Spain being the host. He said no strategy against terrorism could work without an all encompassing policy and urged the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum to help Pakistan through investments and joint ventures to assist it in countering militancy.
Qureshi told the audience about the state of affairs that prevailed when the current democratically-elected government assumed power following the elections in 2008. He said that while the government had taken many measures to alleviate the suffering of the poor with projects such as the Benazir Income Support Programme, the country continued to face energy shortage and deficiency in sugar. Nevertheless, he added, the government had taken steps to deal with these problems.
The foreign minister mentioned about the bill for the protection of women signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari and described it as a 'landmark document', which would encourage more women to play their role in nation building without the fear of being harassed at work.
Responding to a question, he lauded the role of intelligence agencies in eliminating and arresting key al-Qaeda leaders. He said the intelligence provided to the allies had been extremely beneficial in the fight against terrorism.
Qureshi said the operations in North Waziristan would be undertaken only when the situation was favourable. Regarding the student visa issue, he said the government had taken up the issue with the British leadership to ease the difficulties of the Pakistani students in obtaining the British visa for studies in the UK institutions. He said that despite the challenges, Pakistan was a land full of opportunities, with a bright and promising future.
No comments:
Post a Comment