ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday offered Afghanistan to build a partnership for the future to ensure peaceful coexistence and lasting stability in the region.
“We are joined by geography. We cannot walk away. We have to live together and we have to carve out our future collectively,” he said while addressing a session of the two-day summit on Afghan refugees here in Islamabad.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees had jointly organized the summit with Pakistan to mark 40 years since the beginning of Afghan displacement. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also attended the conference to express solidarity with Afghan refugees and recognize Pakistan’s efforts to host them.
“We need to build a partnership for the future … we can easily look at faults, point fingers, but there is a history of coexistence, caring and sharing,” the foreign minister said while conveying this message to Afghan leadership.
Pakistan is the world’s second-largest host of refugees with over 2 million Afghans living in different parts of the country since 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
Qureshi also lauded the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces where majority of the Afghan refugees have been living for their support to the displaced people.
“The government alone couldn’t have done it,” he said. “The government’s resources and ability was limited.”
The minister said that the local values and customs also helped ensure that the refugees were not discriminated at any stage in the country. “The refugees were allowed to move out, ply their transport and do trade without any discrimination,” he added.
The refugee summit comes at a time when the United States and Taliban are said to be close to a peace deal. The US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has also attended the conference and met the civil and military leadership of Pakistan to discuss the future of Afghan refugees after reaching a peace agreement with the Taliban by the end of this month.
However, analysts say it is highly unlikely that the refugees will start moving to their homeland immediately after the US-Taliban peace deal since it will take time to restore peace and build necessary infrastructure to accommodate over three million refugees back home.
“The refugee families have established their businesses and relationships with the locals, so it won’t be easy for them to pack up,” Zaigham Khan, a senior analyst from tribal districts, told Arab News.
However, he added that Afghan refugees would serve as ambassadors of Pakistan when they returned to their home country. “Our people have looked after them as their brothers and sisters during difficult times,” he added.
Pakistan wants to build 'partnership' with Afghanistan for lasting peace
https://arab.news/z96ke
Pakistan wants to build 'partnership' with Afghanistan for lasting peace
- Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says both countries need to carve out their future collectively
- Analysts say Afghan refugees will serve as Pakistan’s ambassadors after returning to their home country
Pakistan says mosque data collection in Indian-administered Kashmir violates religious freedom
- Indian police distributed forms to collect details of mosques, including finances of institutions and personal details of imams
- The exercise has triggered widespread concern in the territory, with a local leader calling it ‘infringement of the religious freedom’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday condemned reported profiling of mosques and their management committees in Indian-administered Kashmir, calling it “blatant intrusion into religious affairs.”
Police distributed forms to local officials to collect details of mosques, seminaries in Indian-administered Kashmir, including finances of the institutions, personal details of imams and members of management committees, Hindustan Times reported this week, citing residents.
The police referred to the busting of a “white collar terror module” last year, which included an imam, as the reason for the exercise that has triggered widespread concern in the territory, with National Conference leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi calling it “infringement of the religious freedom.”
Pakistan’s foreign office said the forcible collection of personal details, photographs and sectarian affiliations of religious functionaries amounts to systematic harassment, aimed at “instilling fear among worshippers and obstructing the free exercise of their faith.”
“This blatant intrusion into religious affairs constitutes a grave violation of the fundamental right to freedom of religion and belief, and reflects yet another coercive attempt to intimidate and marginalize the Muslim population of the occupied territory,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to the statement.
Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both countries have fought two of their four wars over the disputed region, which is ruled in part but claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan.
The Pakistani foreign office said the people of Indian-administered Kashmir possess an inalienable right to practice their religion “without fear, coercion or discrimination.”
“Pakistan will continue to stand in solidarity with them and will persist in raising its voice against all forms of religious persecution and intolerance targeting Kashmiris,” it added.
