President Dr Arif Alvi Friday said peace in Afghanistan would set the region on the path of economic prosperity and especially Pakistan would attract more investment and business opportunities.
In an interview to a private television, he said if Afghanistan remained peaceful and without Indian interference it would be bonanza for Pakistan.
A lot of development was needed in Afghanistan and experts and professionals from Pakistan could contribute to reconstruction and development of its neighbour, he added.
During war, he said people of Afghanistan suffered the most and simultaneously Pakistan also suffered as it lost more than 80,000 people and millions of refugees crossed over its border.
To a question, he said Taliban assured that land of Afghanistan would be not used for terrorism against any other country.
Taliban had expressed their support to the Kashmir cause, he observed.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party were consistently saying that war was not a solution to the Afghan issue.
The international community understood the reality of Afghanistan after losing trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives in the last two decades, he noted.
Pakistan was wrongly held responsible for what happened in Afghanistan, he stressed.
The President said uncertainty in Afghanistan suited India which with a bizarre citizenship act deprived of citizenship a large segment of its population because it lacked documents.
He said India was taking an anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan and anti-Kashmir stance.
The President said Pakistan set an example for others with the way it tackled the coronavirus pandemic whereas countries like India mismanaged the situation.
Prime Minister Imran Khan adopted a policy of taking care of the needs of the poor people who were affected by the coronavirus, he recalled.
He said the government was asking Taliban to hold negotiations with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, protect rights of women and deal with people in a fair and just manner.
He said India had been trying to creating chaos in Pakistan by interfering in the matters of Balochistan.
To a question, he said the government would consider amnesty for those who were willing to accept the constitution of Pakistan and shun terrorism.
Pakistan benefited from the fence put up by it at the Afghan border, he said adding Pakistan would benefit if Afghanistan was made part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The leadership of Central Asian countries was eager for opportunities for trade and investment in Pakistan, he informed adding peace in Afghanistan would change the landscape of the region.
He said Pakistan wanted India to take back its measure of August 5, 2019 regarding Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and stop changing the demographics of the region. India was doing politics of hate and causing regional instability and in the process was also weakening itself.
Pakistan wanted peace with its neighbours, he remarked.
The President said he could see that Pakistan Tehreek I Insaf (PTI) would form the next government. The focus of the government should be on development, fulfilling needs of the people and keeping inflation and price hikes under control.
The biggest threat to the political system was corruption, he asserted.
Dr Arif said economy of the country was moving in the right direction and all the economic indicators were trending positive.
He supported the use of electronic voting machines in elections and said opposition was acting irresponsibly by opposing the use of voting machines.
There were complaints of irregularities in the past elections and the solution to resolve these issues was the use of voting machines, he concluded.
