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| March 17, 2007 | Saturday | Safar 27, 1428 |
Challenges facing Afghanistan indigenous, says Aziz
ISLAMABAD, March 16: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said challenges facing Afghanistan were entirely indigenous in nature and required a holistic approach to win the hearts and minds of the people of the country.
He said the causes and solutions to the Afghan problem lied in Afghanistan and Pakistan would continue to extend all-out support to the Afghan government to achieve peace and stability in the country.
He was talking to a Nato parliamentary delegation comprising Karl A. Lamers (Germany), Jan Petersen (Norway), Bart van Winsen (Netherlands), Senator Raynell Andreychuk (Canada), Markus Meckel (Germany), Nikolai Kamov (Bulgaria), Rasa Jukneviciene (Lithuania) and Steffen Sachs, who called on him at Prime Minister’s House.
The prime minister said a stable and peaceful Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s strategic, economic and political interest and Pakistan would be the biggest loser if Afghanistan destabilised. “A stable Afghanistan alone can enable Pakistan to open avenues of cooperation and forge energy, trade and transportation links with Central Asia,” he added.
He said all stakeholders, both visible and invisible, in Afghanistan needed to be recognised and involved in finding a settlement of the Afghan problem.
Mr Aziz said Pakistan was of the view that a Marshall Plan-type approach should be adopted in Afghanistan to expedite the process of reconstruction and to bring about meaningful improvement in the lives of the people.
He said Pakistan was not an aid-giving country but it had provided $350 million assistance to Afghanistan to accelerate economic activity there. “Pakistan’s trade with Afghanistan has reached $1.5 billion from a mere $50 million four years ago,” he said.
He said Islamabad and Kabul had agreed on repatriation of over three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and the process would be carried out in a systematic and gradual manner.
The prime minister said Pakistan was fighting terrorism out of conviction because it was in Pakistan’s own interest and in the interest of international peace.
He said: “We have started selective fencing of our side of the border to prevent illegal movement from both sides.”
Mr Aziz expressed Pakistan’s concern over the growing drug production in Afghanistan and the nexus between drug money and terrorism.
He said the international community needed to take notice of the menace and take necessary measures to deal with it.
Talking about Pakistan’s relations with India, the prime minister said the peace process with India was moving in the right direction.
He said sustainable peace in South Asia could be achieved with a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute in keeping with the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
He said Pakistan was a peaceful country and was not engaged in arms race with any country. “Our defence strategy is based on minimum credible deterrence to ensure peace in the region,” he said.
Commenting on the Iran nuclear issue, Mr Aziz said Pakistan was opposed to nuclear proliferation. He said Pakistan, however, recognised Iran’s right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes under the IAEA safeguards.
He said Pakistan was against the use of force and favoured settlement of Iran’s nuclear issue through dialogue and diplomacy.
About the situation in the country, the prime minister claimed that all elements of a functioning democracy were in place in Pakistan.
He claimed that the media was free and there were no restrictions on political activity and the opposition was active both within and outside parliament.
He said the general election would be held in a free and transparent manner and all political parties would be free to contest the polls. He said the election would be open to inspection by national and international observers and representatives of the media.
Talking about economy, he claimed that in the last seven years, the size of the country’s economy and its per capita income had doubled and Pakistan had been ranked among top 10 reformers in the world by reputable international financial institutions. He said Pakistan’s economy was growing between 7 to 8 per cent.
The prime minister said a greater market access for Pakistani products in the European Union and signing of a free trade agreement between Pakistan and the EU would be the best help Nato members could provide to Pakistan.
The leader of the Nato delegation, Karl Lamers, said the delegation shared Pakistan’s views on Afghanistan and appreciated the important role being played by it to promote stability in the region.—APP
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