Qureshi addresses students at Oxford University

 

OXFORD: Underscoring Pakistan’s contributions to the war against extremists and militancy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the country has rendered lot more sacrifices than the international forces in Afghanistan and West must reciprocate by helping to revitalise its economy and enhancing its capacity to counter terrorism. The Foreign Minister was delivering a talk on ‘Situation in Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism,’ at the Oxford University here last evening.

 

The event was held at Frewin Court and organised jointly by Oxford Pakistan Society and the Oxford Union as part of Pakistan Young Leaders Conference.

 

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is himself a student at the Oxford University was among a large number of students who had gathered to listen to the speech of the Pakistani Foreign Minister.

 

A portrait of his late mother hung in the historic hall along with other academic luminaries and politicians who had studied at the prestigious institution.

 

“Pakistan continues to fight for its own reasons but the international community must assist the country in enhancing our capacity to counter-terrorism and provide economic assistance to stabilise economy because there is a linkage between deprivation and poverty and extremism,” he said.

 

Mr. Qureshi said Pakistan has been supportive of this fight against terrorism from day one and ever since NATO/ISAF troops moved into Afghanistan but the fight lacked political ownership.

 

“Today, the democratically elected Government has given this fight ownership and that has been the difference.”

 

He spoke of the successful operations launched in Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan and said an area one third of the size of England was cleansed of the miscreants and over two million internally displaced persons returned home in a matter of 10 weeks and have started rebuilding their lives.

 

The Foreign Minister said the world is beginning to realise Pakistan contributions and the sacrifice of its people have made in human and economic terms.

 

“All the coalition forces put together in Afghanistan have not had as many casualties as we had. The economic cost of this conflict to Pakistan has been over US $ 35 billion. Thorough our national efforts we are taking on the extremists,” he informed the gathering.

 

Mr. Qureshi pointed out that the London Conference on Afghanistan has realised Pakistan’s point of view that money derived from drugs smuggling and opium cultivation in Afghanistan is fanning and helping terrorism and that not enough attention has been made to choke the flow of illicit weapons.

 

Pakistan, he said, had called for regional and international efforts to stop this menace but now the international community has realised these shortcomings and the London Conference has agreed to address all the concerns including the issue of capacity building, good governance and elimination of corruption as well as reconciliation and re-integration of the saner elements of Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

 

On relations with India, he said Pakistan was not begging for peace with its eastern neighbour but peace was important for the region and could best be promoted through trade links.

 

“We do have outstanding issues with India and wants to resolve them peacefully. Only when threat on the eastern front is diminished than we could concentrate on the western borders. Two fronts situation is not in Pakistan favour.”

 

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan was interested in result-orient talks with India and this he made it clear to his Indian counterpart when they last met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

 

“We are not interested merely in photo session but want concrete actions on the roadmap we gave to the Indians.”

 

However, he was hopeful that the fifth round of the composite dialogue which remains suspended following the Mumbai incident in November 2008 would be resumed soon.

 

On relations with other countries, Mr. Qureshi pointed out Pakistan has entered into strategic dialogue with the UK and Germany while a similar framework has been prepared with France. Strategic dialogue with the US is also in offing within next couple of months.

 

He further said Pakistan has upgraded its relations with the European Union and the second Pakistan-EU summit is due to take place in April this year with Spain being the host.

 

The Foreign Minister said no strategy against terrorism can work without an all encompassing policy and urged the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum to help Pakistan through investments and joint ventures to assist it countering militancy.

 

Mr. Qureshi informed the audience about the state of affairs that prevailed when the current democratically elected government assumed power following the parliamentary elections in 2008.

 

He said that while the Government has initiated many measures to alleviate the suffering of the poor people with projects such as Benazir Income Support Programme, the country continues to face energy shortage and deficiency in sugar. Nevertheless, he added the Government has taken steps to deal with these problems.

 

Foreign Minister mentioned about the bill for the protection of women signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari and described it as a ‘landmark document’ which will encourage more women to play their role in the nation building without the fear of being harassed at work.

 

Responding to a question, he lauded the role of the intelligence services in eliminating and arrest of key Al-Qaeda leaders and the said the intelligence provided to the allies had been extremely beneficial in the fight against terrorism.

 

The Foreign Minister said operations in North Waziristan would be undertaken only when the situation was favourable.

 

Regarding the student visas issue, Mr. Qureshi said the Government was seized of the matter and the subject has been taken up with the British leadership to ease the difficulties of Pakistani students in obtaining British visa for studies in the UK institutions.

 

He concluded by saying that despite the challenges, Pakistan is a land full of opportunities with a bright and promising future.

 

 

APP - Jan 31, 2010

 

 

Last updated: 4 February 2010