PM Imran Khan calls for devising an immediate, medium & long term strategy to address dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Dec 19 (SABAH): Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for devising an immediate, medium and long term strategy to address the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, warning any chaos there will not be in anybody’s interest.
Addressing the inaugural session of 17th extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers at Parliament House in Islamabad on Sunday, PM Imran Khan said he is impressed with the Islamic Development Bank’s suggestions of medium and long term measures to help the Afghan people and make their economy sustainable.
The Prime Minister warned Afghanistan is heading for chaos and the biggest man made crisis is unfolding there which needs immediate action on behalf of the international community especially the OIC, the United Nations, the US and the European Union.
Imran Khan said the big responsibility rests with the OIC countries as it is our religious duty to help the Afghan people. He said the United States must delink the issues of human rights from humanitarian assistance.
He said that we are already late in extending help to the Afghan people as the harsh winter season has already set in. He said this is also a country which has been affected by the breakout of COVID-19. He said the world community must also show sensitivity to Afghan culture.
Prime Minister Imran Khan pointed out that forty years of conflict coupled with prolonged drought, years of corrupt governance, dried up foreign aid and freezing of the banking system has aggravated the situation in the country. He said any country in such kind of situation will collapse. He said such a situation will have serious consequences including mass exodus of refugees. He pointed out that Pakistan is already hosting millions of Afghan refugees and it cannot deal with more influx of refugees.
PM Imran Khan said that the OIC also had a “religious duty” to help the Afghans. However, he also said that Taliban would also have to understand that formation of an inclusive government, respect for human rights particularly women, and disallowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism in other countries would pave way for international aid to Afghanistan.
He also mentioned his meeting with the interim Afghan foreign minister in which he had categorically assured to comply all the aforesaid conditions.
The prime minister however asked the international community to be sensitive to the cultural traditions in Afghanistan as well as adjoining areas in Pakistan particularly considering the girls’ education.
He said in case of violation of their traditions, the families would never send their girls to school even if incentivized but they would willingly do it without any stipend if felt satisfied.
The prime minister said any chaos in Afghanistan would lead to the mass exodus of refugees which would be unaffordable for Pakistan rather than no developing country.
He said the developed countries had a problem even with few thousand refugees, so how a developing country like Pakistan could host hundreds of thousands of them.
Specifically addressing the United States, the prime minister said that Washington must “delink” the Taliban government from the 40 million Afghan citizens.
“They have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years but this [concerns] the people of Afghanistan,” he said, adding that it was important to take immediate action.
He noted that the Taliban had to fulfill the commitments they had made to the international community, which included forming an inclusive government and ensuring women’s rights.
“[However], the idea of human rights is different in every society,” he said, giving the example of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders the war-torn country.
“The city culture is completely different from the culture in rural areas […] we give stipends to the parents of the girls so that they send them to school. But in districts bordering Afghanistan, if we are not sensitive to the cultural norms, then they won’t send them to school despite receiving double the amount. We have to be sensitive about human rights and women rights,” he said.
He reiterated that Afghanistan was headed for chaos unless the world took immediate action. Such a situation will not suit the US because “chaos means the inability to fight terrorism,” he said, adding that Pakistan also faced a threat from ISIL. Imran Khan said the threat of terrorism from ISIL can only be tackled effectively through a stable government in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan has faced terror attacks from the terrorist outfit. He said this organization will continue to pose a serious threat if the Afghan government does not have the capability to fight it.
PM Imran Khan said that Pakistan was currently housing over three million refugees, adding that country was also providing shelter to more than 200,000 refugees who had overstayed their visas.
“The situation in Afghanistan means they can’t go back. We are already suffering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not in a position to deal with a influx of refugees.”
He questioned how poorer countries, that were still struggling to get their economic back up, would be able to cope with an influx of refugees.
Addressing the participants, the premier said he was impressed by the suggestions put forward by Islamic development banks for providing immediate assistance.
“I look forward to the fact that you will come up with a road map by the end of this evening,” he said, reiterating that “chaos in Afghanistan suited no one”.
On Palestine and Kashmir issues, the Prime Minister said the people of these territories want to see a unified response from the Muslim world about their democratic and human rights.
Regarding Islamophobia, the Prime Minister said the OIC must play its role to help the world understand the teachings of Islam and our love and affection for the last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). Prime Minister Imran Khan said the refugee crisis had exacerbated the phenomenon when terrorism and Islam were connected by the west making the western Muslims suffer.
The prime minister said the absence of any intellectual response to such a situation also led to the situation as the west’s attitude towards religion was different.
He said Pakistan had formed a Rahmatullil Alamin Authority to coordinate with world Muslim scholars to consider the intellectual response to the subjects like cartoons or insulting of the Holy Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) to make the West understand as how Muslims revered him.
Moreover, the Authority would also raise the morality and ethics of society by teachings Seeratun Nabi (PBUH) to the people besides bringing unity in the society.