The standing committees of the Lower Houses of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday said interaction between the parliamentarians of the two countries and people-to-people contacts would help establish peace and stability in the region.
The delegation of Law and Justice Standing Committee of Wolesi Jirga (Lower House), headed by Haji Ustad Muhammad Muhqiq, met on Friday with National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice.
Muhqiq said militancy and extremism were created by certain indigenous forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan which ultimately compelled the international powers to intervene in the region.
Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry said Pakistan was following a policy of non-interference in internal affairs of Afghanistan. She said Pakistan wanted a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, as it was vital to regional peace. She further added that Pakistan wanted the US to realise that neither Afghanistan not Pakistan were Iraq and the Afghan government should also bring this point home with the US.
“Our issues are ours and the US will sooner or later leave the region, but we will stay here. The futures of Afghanistan and Pakistan are interwoven,” Nasim Cahudhry said.
The chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee further said that Burhanuddin Rabbani was great friend of Pakistan and peace process received a great blow as a result of his murder.
“Pakistan has pledged to help the Afghan government investigate Rabbani’s assassination,” she said, adding that both countries should avoid the blame game.
Nasim added that Pakistan supported peace initiative of President Hamid Karzai and did not aspire to determine Afghan peoples’ destiny. She also elaborated the contribution of Pakistan towards Afghanistan’s reconstruction. She said that Pakistan invested around Rs 330 million in Afghanistan and also pledged to construct 50 primary schools and 50 basic health. Muhqiq said extremists were not willing to resolve the issues despite repeated requests of President Karzai. “President Karzai called them (militants) brothers many times, but their role was like that of the brothers of Hazrat Yousuf,” he said.
