ISLAMABAD – The Minister of Interior of Pakistan Ahsan Iqbal has also saidthat the return of Afghan refugees is prerequisite to deny safe havens tothe Afghan militants.
Iqbal told reporters that around three million refugees still reside inPakistan emphasizing that no one should expect that the country would beable to certify those involved in the cross-border terrorist activities.
According to Iqbal, Pakistan cold only guarantee having no terrorists onits soil when all refugees return to their homeland.
He said the United States should assist in the repatriation of the Afghanrefugees as he slammed Washington for leaving Pakistan in the lurch at theend of the cold war.
In the meantime, he warned that only the terrorist groups would benefitfrom the blame games and urged Washington to announce economic packages forthe return of the refugees instead of criticizing Islamabad.
This comes as a top Pakistani envoy had earlier said that Islamabad wantsthe Taliban group members as well as the members of the notorious Haqqaniterrorist network to return to Afghanistan.
Speaking to Urdu service of BBC, Aizaz Chaudhry said the government ofPakistan do not want the Taliban and Haqqanis to live in the country.
He admitted that the leaders of the group have relations with the Afghanrefugees living in Pakistan however he rejected that the country providessafe havens to Taliban and Haqqani network leaders.
According to Chaudhry, Islamabad is keen for the return of the Taliban andHaqqani network and pressures have been intensified in this regard so thatthey should return and join the political mainstream in Afghanistan.