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ISLAMABAD: Afghan parliamentarians have acknowledged that drug mafias in their country were too powerful and that the parliament and the government there found it difficult to counter them.
“The mafias have penetrated all systems and branches of the government in the relaxed and free period following the harsh Taliban rule and as a result poppy cultivation continues to thrive in Afghanistan,” Sayed Ishaq Gailani, the head of a visiting Afghan parliamentary delegation, said at a press conference after the conclusion of a two-day dialogue between Pakistani and Afghan parliamentarians here on Wednesday.Twenty parliamentarians from the Meshrano Jirga (Afghan Senate) and Wolesi Jirga (National Assembly) participated in the dialogue organised by PILDAT.
Mr Gailani said that drug lords were very powerful because narcotics business generated a lot of money. “This money is also used in terrorism.”
In reply to a question, he said that no force was creating disturbances in Pakistan from Afghanistan. “We will never allow our soil to be used against Pakistan and reports of Indian spy activities from Afghanistan are incorrect,” he said, adding that India had two consulates --- one in Nangarhar and the other in Kandahar.
Mr Gailani said Pakistan too had two consulates in Afghanistan.
Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, told reporters that Pakistan had serious concerns over the growing poppy cultivation and drug production in Afghanistan.
“The two countries have traditional, cultural, religious and geopolitical links. Any negative or positive development in one country will have an impact on the other,” he added.
The two sides expressed confidence that with the strengthening of Afghan National Army and police the writ of the government would further improve across the country.
Mr Saifullah said that relations between the two countries had improved significantly over the past decade and bilateral annual trade reached $2 billion.
A joint declaration issued after the conclusion of the dialogue said that terrorism had badly affected the two countries and stressed the need for holding a regional conference on the issue.
A friendship group in the Senate, headed by Deputy Chairman Jan Muhammad Jamali, has been formed and a parliamentary delegation will visit Kabul in May.
The declaration said that peace in Afghanistan was important for peace in Pakistan and the region. “Terrorism is a common problem which needs to be addressed jointly and a regional approach is required in this regard.”
Earlier, the Afghan delegation called on President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed with him issues relating to the transit trade, cross-border terrorism and enhanced interaction between parliamentarians of the two countries. —A Reporter
