ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Monday said an inclusive government was imperative for Afghanistan, urging the world and regional powers to support the process.
Talking to Turkish news channel TRT World, he said if mistakes of the past would be repeated in Afghanistan, the situation would get worse. The government in Afghanistan has to be formed by Afghans, he said adding, the regional and the world powers have a heavy responsibility in facilitating the process.
Pakistan was trying for installation of an all-inclusive broad-based government in Afghanistan, he said adding, the country had been left alone in the past, and now the world was repeating the same mistakes.
"If the same mistakes are repeated again, that means we will create a hub of extremist organisations right at the border of Pakistan which is obviously hugely worrisome for us.” He said when erstwhile Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988, Pakistan had to deal with the situation and now the United States and NATO forces had withdrawn rapidly from Afghanistan, and Pakistan again was at the centre of the situation and dealing with the issue.
Now Pakistan was keeping a close eye on the issue, said the minister adding that if the Afghanistan situation did not stabilise, millions of people would start moving towards Pakistan. He said Pakistan had already been hosting 3.5 million Afghan refugees for decades and its economy could no longer bear the burden of more refugees.
The efforts of the international community were necessary to solve the Afghan problem, said Ch Fawad Hussain. He said Pakistan was playing the role of a responsible country and striving for a stable Afghanistan, and working with regional and international powers. Unrest in Afghanistan, he said, was detrimental not only to Pakistan but to the entire world.
"We have evacuated foreigners and those working in foreign companies from Kabul," he said adding that over 4,500 people have been evacuated from Kabul through Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He said arrangements had been made for refugees at the border. He said a comprehensive strategy had been formulated with regard to Afghan refugees as the government did not want to repeat the 1979 situation. It would not allow the refugees to move inside Pakistan. The world, he said, should come forward to help Pakistan for meeting the challenge.
He said the world did not pay heed to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advice, adding that former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani did not hold general elections in the country which resulted in present crisis due to lack of consensus government.
He said that two tracks including the troika plus including Russia, China, US and Pakistan and the other track comprising regional countries Turkey, Pakistan, Central Asia and Iran should take the leadership role in the crisis. The minister said Pakistan and Turkey were in close cooperation on the issue as they were partners in peace in Afghanistan.
Reacting to the press conference of Shehbaz Sharif, Fawad Ch said the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) president should ask his brother Nawaz Sharif to return from London and face the court cases, instead of bringing millions of people to Islamabad. He said the Sharif brothers should face cases against them in the courts of law.
Terming the tirade of Shehbaz Sharif ridiculous, the minister said he should not make such frivolous statements at Mazar of Quaid-e-Azam.
He said that on the one hand, millions of rupees had been spent on grandson’s wedding in London while on the other hand, they were crying that people of Pakistan were facing problems due to inflation.
He said the crocodile’s tears, shed by the PML-N leadership over inflation and price-hike, were manifestations of their duplicity. Ch Fawad asked Shehbaz Sharif to quit politics and hold consultations with his lawyers. He said owing to the strong court cases against Shehbaz Sharif, it did not seem that he would be able to address public rallies for a long time.
He said at a time when the focus of whole world was on Afghanistan, the PMLN leadership had not uttered a word about it. The manner the PMLN leadership was seeking the support of world powers was disgraceful, he added.
Taking a jibe at the PML-N, he said that they had toss for the party presidency on a monthly basis. He said this time Shehbaz Sharif was the president, next time it would be Maryam Nawaz and then Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.