Pakistan calls for global efforts to curb extremism

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday called upon the international community to join hands for developing a coherent strategy to counter violent extremism while vehemently denying the US accusations that it was harboring and supporting the Haqqani network in North Waziristan.
“Zarb-e-Azb is against all terrorist organisations including the Haqqani Network which is no longer present in Pakistan, and they have shifted to Afghanistan after the recent military operations in the area. The infrastructure has been dismantled,” Sartaj Aziz, Adviser on National Security and Foreign Policy, told the visiting German Foreign Minister Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a joint press conference.
Steinmeier, who had discussed Afghanistan in his delegation-level talks with Sartaj Aziz, said, “Pakistan and Afghanistan need to work together for peace and prosperity in the region. Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Germany are improving and we expect better economic cooperation between the two countries,” said the German foreign minister.
However, eyebrows were raised when he commented on a domestic issue of Pakistan by criticising and expressing concern over the military courts which had been established to try terror-related cases.
The German foreign minister also met Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif in Rawalpindi but there was no word whether he raised this issue with the army chief or not.
As a member of the EU, there has been concern also on the government’s policy of hanging condemned criminals.
Cautioning both Pakistan and India over the increase in tensions, the German foreign minister urged both to resort to dialogue to resolve issues. Sartaj Aziz said that he had taken his counterpart into confidence over the fact that “Pakistan believes in having good relations with all its neighbours on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect.
Development and prosperity of the region and its people would remain elusive without peace and inter-connectivity.”
Aziz termed the meeting “productive” and said that the consultations were very productive and that their consultations “encompassed bilateral relations as well as an exchange of views on regional and global issues, especially the situation in Afghanistan and the stalemate in India-Pakistan dialogue process.”
Germany has been one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners globally, and the largest in the Europe and the current trade volume is approaching $3 billion annually but has the potential of increasing exponentially.
“Pakistan would welcome German investments in various sectors of its economy, especially in engineering and renewable energy,” said Aziz.