ISLAMABAD, Jan 28 (APP):Minister
for Defence, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that the Americans are
choosing to blame Pakistan for their sixteen-year old failure in Afghanistan.
“A lot of blame game has come to Pakistan. It
is one of the reasons (that as) why we have now begun to fence the border. And
it is very interesting: now that we say Ok you blame us that we send people
across or that some people are crossing over, we will fence the whole 2600
kilometres,” he said in an interview with national radio and TV channel of
Belgium, VRT: Flemish Radio and TV.
The
minister along with a delegation of parliamentarians was on a four-day visit (January
22-25) to Brussels.
The
delegation of parliamentarians included former Speaker National Assembly Dr.
Fehmida Mirza, Chairman National Assembly Commerce Committee Siraj Khan and
Chairman Senate Commerce Committee, Shibli Faraz.
“But
once we have begun to fence, we have done almost well 250 kilometres already,
no one is helping us,” the minister said in response to a question on Pak- US
relations.
He
expressed the hope that the Europeans would convey Pakistan’s point of view to
the Americans, who he stated were at the moment not very receptive to
Pakistan’s point of view.
“It
is to say that again let’s keep the eyes on the prize, as the Americans say.
And the prize is a stable democratic Afghanistan,” he maintained.
In
the context of situation in Afghanistan, the minister said, “They have spent a
trillion dollars; they have sacrificed thousands of soldiers, many more
injuries. And even now, nearly 45% of Afghanistan is outside the government’s
control.”
The
minister warned, as long as the situation is unstable in Afghanistan, there would
remain unrest in Pakistan.
On
the internal security situation of Pakistan, he said the internal security
situation had massively improved. “There is no other word for it. I think we
have performed a near miracle. So, the whole of Pakistan is now peaceful. We
still get some terrorist incidents. But largely, the incidents of terror are
down by 80% from their peak in 2012”.
“The
murdering of 142 children in Army Public School in 2017 cleared the mind of the
people of Pakistan. These were not religious people, these were not
anti-American crusaders; these were not nationalist people. They were just evil
people who wanted to hurt Pakistan,” he said.
Talking
about improvement in Pakistan’s economic situation Khurram Dastgir Khan was of
the view that the country was the fastest growing consumer market in the world
at the moment.
“There
is a lot of interest from international retailers, food outlets, and companies
who want to tap Pakistan’s consumer market. As I said, the infrastructure is
coming in, and Pakistan is finally, we believe, at the threshold of utilising its
potential because of its very strategic geographical location.
“It
is something that has given us more trouble in our history. But now finally
because of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the investment that is
coming in, that we are about to exploit its potential,” he added.
