December 8, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 22, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and a delegation of Refugees International called on the minister for Kana and Safron, Abbas Sarfaraz Khan, here on Friday and discussed issues relating to Afghan refugees and IDPs of Kashmir.

The minister briefed Her Majesty on the Afghan refugee’s situation, contingency plan for EDPs, setting up of IDPs camps by PMA, Edhi and PRCS, and Pakistan government’s strategy in this respect.

The minister said that the world community should be forthcoming in their pledges to ease the suffering of the Afghan people.

He also said that the size of the financial commitment made for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan is not much as compared to the support extended by the world community to Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.

He informed the delegation that Pakistan had paid a high price in terms of economy, crime rate, employment, and other civic life by hosting 3.1 million Afghan refugees.

The minister also asked Refugees International to support 17,000 IDPs of Kashmir living in camps in the AJK.

Her Majesty Queen Noor appreciated Pakistan’s role in this critical situation. She said that Refugee International was on a fact finding humanitarian mission to assess and to identify ways and means for providing support to the Afghans.

She said that RI would emphasize the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the repatriation of its people.

The delegation appreciated Pakistan being one of the three major partners in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. They were surprised to know that the UN agencies were not purchasing supplies for the refugees from Pakistan.

They viewed that raw material be procured and expertise hired from Pakistan.—APP