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