Those seeking power through violence are distasteful: Khar
Foreign Minister says Haqqani Network are Afghanis, not Pakistanis and should go to Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar addressing a select gathering of opinion leaders at the Asis Society, New York. PHOTO: COURTESY PAKISTAN MISSION
WASHINGTON:
Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that any group that uses violence as a means of propagating, promoting and proving themselves and their power is immensely distasteful to the Pakistani state.
Responding to a question by moderator Joe Klein on the Haqqani Network, Khar cited the example of FTO designation of the group where the US asked Pakistan about the listing, "We said be our guests, they are Afghan nationals.”
“And please allow us to send the three million Afghan refugees, the Haqqanis being one of them, back to Afghanistan, or take responsibility, maybe to New York or Washington," the foreign minister said, before adding that Pakistan continues to house three million Afghans.
Khar said that when one of the three million people cross the border into Afghanistan where 57,000 people are crossing unchecked everyday, and attack someone, it is the Pakistani state gets blamed. She added that it was preposterous to make such allegations.
The foreign minister said Pakistan has lost $72 billion in the war against terrorism and that Pakistan was fighting the war for its own existence, and as a frontline state.
When asked by Klein on a statement by General Kayani a few years ago describing the Haqqani Network as an asset in an interview with the New York Times, FM Khar disagreed and said that was not his view now, and it was not the view of the Government of Pakistan's either.
Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that any group that uses violence as a means of propagating, promoting and proving themselves and their power is immensely distasteful to the Pakistani state.
Responding to a question by moderator Joe Klein on the Haqqani Network, Khar cited the example of FTO designation of the group where the US asked Pakistan about the listing, "We said be our guests, they are Afghan nationals.”
“And please allow us to send the three million Afghan refugees, the Haqqanis being one of them, back to Afghanistan, or take responsibility, maybe to New York or Washington," the foreign minister said, before adding that Pakistan continues to house three million Afghans.
Khar said that when one of the three million people cross the border into Afghanistan where 57,000 people are crossing unchecked everyday, and attack someone, it is the Pakistani state gets blamed. She added that it was preposterous to make such allegations.
The foreign minister said Pakistan has lost $72 billion in the war against terrorism and that Pakistan was fighting the war for its own existence, and as a frontline state.
When asked by Klein on a statement by General Kayani a few years ago describing the Haqqani Network as an asset in an interview with the New York Times, FM Khar disagreed and said that was not his view now, and it was not the view of the Government of Pakistan's either.