ISLAMABAD:Pakistan has taken care of 3.5 million refugees without anyone’s help for three decades, said Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal
He was addressing an international conference on terrorism in Islamabad Tuesday.
Talking about the problem of terrorism and the presence of Afghan refugees in the country, Iqbal said the international community needs to work with Pakistan to solve these issues. “The international community has to understand that what Pakistan is facing today is also largely due to the failure of international community to discharge their obligations in this region,” he said. According to him, we need to avoid pointing fingers.
“We have not asked anybody to help us in supporting 3.5 million refugees,” he said. “And if you even take a dollar a day – which is the lowest figure for survival – for 3.5 million refugees for three decades, imagine how many hundreds of billions of dollars Pakistan has spent on looking after these refugees,” he said.
He lauded the Pakistani efforts in successfully conducting operations such as Zarb-e-Azb “through its own resources without any help”. He said that was proof of Pakistan’s “national will and resolve” to root out extremism.
Talking about the recent wave of violence in Indian-held Kashmir, the interior minister said this will not contribute to bringing peace and stability to the region. APP/AFP