“I think there has been a tremendous amount of progress, based on everything I have seen and heard in relation to the stepped up efforts to deal with the threat of terrorist activity,” she said about Pakistan’s anti-terrorism activities, particularly military operations against Taliban and foreign militants fleeing from Afghanistan to the Pakistani tribal areas.
“I think the progress to date has been encouraging and we would want to see all these efforts continue,” said Ms McLellan, who is also Canada’s minister for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The deputy prime minister, whose country will have 2,500 troops in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar by next February to help reconstruction there, said that she had raised the issue of border security with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.
She affirmed Canada’s support for President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s declarations about the war against terrorism and Pakistan’s “commitment to do everything they can to deal with the remaining elements of the Taliban or whoever else there may be who would choose to harm others”.
“We wanted to encourage the Pakistani government to do everything they can to secure that (Pakistan-Afghan) border so that our troops are not engaged because of people going back and forth,” she said and added: “I think if there are Taliban leaders in Pakistan still, clearly we would encourage the Pakistani government to do everything they can to find them and deal with them appropriately.”
Ms McLellan, who was briefed about the recent operations against militants during a visit to the Khyber Pass on Friday, said the Pakistani authorities had ‘certainly’ increased their activity over a number of weeks ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.
“What I wanted to do was encourage the government and those on the frontlines to continue their vigilance to ensure to the greatest extent possible that Pakistan is not a place where Taliban can hide,” she added.
She said that she also discussed cooperation in moves against narcotics trade and human trafficking which “obviously are issues that concern us all and are, like the war on terror”.
Asked if any specific steps were considered for cooperation in this field, she said the two sides were looking at enhancing relationship between Pakistani and Canadian law-enforcement agencies. “We have a new counter-terrorism strategy...driven by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) which I think they are talking to their Pakistani counterparts about.”
Ms McLellan described Pakistan as “absolutely key in the war against terror” and said: “We have a major interest in working with the Pakistani government to do whatever we can to deal with the remnants of the Taliban or others who can do harm.”
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: She said Canada had recently changed its approach to overseas development targeting primarily 25 countries, Pakistan is one of them.
“So we hope to be able to help (Pakistan) in a broader range of areas than in the past and we hope to be more involved on the overseas development side with the government of Pakistan and local communities in the country.”
She talked about the possibility of changing “the face of development assistance” by a debt conversion programme “where the outstanding debt of Pakistan is going to be converted” into payments to a fund strategically oriented towards public education.
The deputy prime minister said Canada also wanted to increase bilateral trade with Pakistan and that streamlining of privatization regulations would encourage Canadian businesses to invest in Pakistan.
Ms McLellan said she had held brief chat with some Pakistani opposition leaders at a reception on Friday and heard them complain about lack of democracy in the country.
“It was briefly but certainly they took the opportunity to express their concerns. I think the general concern raised was around the pace of democratic renewal or the pace of reform leading to a vibrant democracy,” she said.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: Ms McLellan said she also raised the issue of violence against women and the whole issue of gender equality with Mr Aziz as well acting president Mohammedmian Soomro, but there was no mention of President Musharraf’s controversial remarks in a US newspaper interview about rape victims allegedly using their ordeal to obtain Canadian visas.
She acknowledged that even in the western society women did not achieve equality ‘magically overnight’, but said a country like Pakistan “has the opportunity to learn from the experiences of countries like Canada” and that she hoped: “Progress might be somewhat quicker here.”
Ms McLellan said she supported the objection taken by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to President’s Musharraf’s reported remarks and said Canada’s visa system was transparent.