Stable Afghanistan to benefit region, Pakistan: Gilani

MULTAN: Senate Opposition Leader Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is imperative in the larger interests of the region and Pakistan.

Addressing a seminar organized by Saraiki nationalists on the current Afghan situation and its effects on Pakistan at the Multan Press Club, he said at least 3.5 million Afghans shifted to Pakistan when Soviet Union forces entered Afghanistan. He said the United Nations, Pakistan and the world forces must consider combating the shortage of medicines in Afghanistan.

The US forces have left behind sophisticated weapons in Afghanistan, which can be utilized anywhere and the peace forces must stop misuse of those weapons. He said China is a great ally of Pakistan, Russia is present in the region like the OIC and Iran and these countries are handling the Afghan situation carefully.

He said political forces must think out how an eternal peace is inevitable in Afghanistan. The Afghan insurgency can affect Pakistan badly. He said currently Pakistan is having a weak economy and this is hard to accommodate new Afghan refugees in the country.

Gillani said Pakistan had a bad experience in the past when the Afghan Jihad stakeholders left Pakistan alone at the end of Afghan Jihad. He underlined that the stakeholders must take up the whole matter seriously and think of a solution to Afghan peace. He said the world must stop Indian interventions in Afghanistan as it had remained involved in Afghanistan and plotted against Pakistan in the past. Indian interventions must be discouraged in Afghanistan at all levels. Pakistan had arrested Indian spies in the past for plotting against Pakistan.

He appealed to the Afghan Taliban to uphold human rights including the rights of women. The working Afghan women should be protected at all levels. He said the Pakistan Peoples Party is the first party to convene a meeting of its Central Executive Committee and expressed concern over the current situation in Afghanistan. Saraiki nationalists who spoke on the occasion were Father Younis Alam, Zahoor Dhreeja and Prof Akram Mirani.