THIMPHU, July 23: Interior Minister Rehman Malik emphasised the need on Saturday for coordinated and concerted efforts by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to combat terrorism and money laundering.
Addressing the fourth Saarc Interior Ministers’ Conference here in the Bhutanese capital, he said Pakistan was making serious endeavours to eliminate the menaces from society.
Mr Malik, who presided over the conference, suggested constitution of SaarcPol, on the pattern of Interpol, and stressed the need for creating a Saarc commission with the objective of promoting harmony. He also called for the formation of a joint task force to control incidents of piracy in the Indian Ocean.
The minister said Pakistan, its people and armed forces had rendered great sacrifices in the war on terror and in preventing terrorists from fanning out to other parts of the country and the region. The war would continue till the elimination of terrorism, he added.
He said: “Pakistani people are suffering because of terrorism for 10 years. We experienced 7,485 bomb explosions out of which 3,800 were suicide bombings. More than 35,000 innocent Pakistanis have lost their lives in the war on terror.”
He said that after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, Pakistan had paid a heavy price because people were facing incidents of 9/11 and Mumbai each and every day, but such incidents could not weaken the morale of Pakistanis who were committed to eliminating the menace.
Mr Malik said Pakistan had improved rules and regulations regarding border control and immigration.
He said in addition to amendments to the Anti-terrorism Act, security forces in Pakistan were being equipped with modern gadgets and they were being imparted training to improve their performance.
“It is important to introduce philosophy of inter-faith harmony. I appreciate the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who took forward this philosophy. Exploitation within the religion must end. We can adopt that philosophy for Saarc too because most of the countries of the region were suffering,” he added.
The minister informed the conference that Pakistan had banned activities of 31 organisations as part of its policy to combat terrorism and extremism and emphasised the need to change the mindset of people to control terrorism.
“It is a very crucial time because people are suffering, especially because of terrorism. The whole region of Saarc is suffering from it.”—APP
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