ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said that Pakistan’s eastern neighbour was constantly using Afghan soil to destabilise Pakistan, thus hampering its endeavours to fight against terrorism.
“The establishment of peace and security in Pakistan is directly linked with peace and stability in Afghanistan, therefore the international community should realize that whose stake is involved in destabilizing Afghanistan,” said the minister while addressing an inauguration ceremony of the Diplomatic Enclave Riding Club.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Police Inspector General (IGP), Dr Sultan Azam Taimuri, diplomats from various countries including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Azerbaijan and others, and members of the business community.
Ahsan said that due to the disturbance being created by a neighbouring country at Pakistan’s Western border, over 200,000 security personnel were deployed at the border which needs extra resources.
He also urged the international community to support Pakistan in the repatriation of over three million Afghan refugees, as they were causing a problem for the country.
The minister stated that Pakistan had rendered unprecedented sacrifices in the war against terror saying that if the international community could not support Pakistan in its fight against terrorism then it should at least not create hurdles in its way to handle this international challenge.
He also informed that some efforts were being made to put Pakistan on the watch list of the countries funding terrorism and such efforts could be counter-productive for the war against terror.
“If Pakistan’s economy is disturbed by imposing economic sanctions, then it would ultimately dilute its capability to fight against terrorism,” he said.
Pakistan, he said, is fighting its war against terrorism to secure its future generation and had declared getting rid of this national challenge a menace that needs to be dealt with once and for all.
Appreciating the Islamabad Police’ performance, the minister said that the best performance of it has made Islamabad one of the safest federal capitals in the world.
“We are trying to make Islamabad Police a model community police by equipping it with state-of-the-art technology,” said Ahsan.
Earlier, speaking at the occasion, the Islamabad IGP said on the special directions of the interior minister, the riding club was established by the Islamabad Mounted Police to provide the diplomats and others especially young people an opportunity to learn and enjoy horse riding.
He said a state of the art Gymnasium in the Diplomatic Enclave had also been established to provide a healthy activity to the diplomats and other people and further informed that a shooting club would also soon be established in the diplomatic enclave.