Oct 31 , 2015
News
Pakistan not accountable to US: Nisar
Minister says Pakistan, Iran jointly addressing border issues
INP
ISLAMABAD – Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said that Pakistan was not accountable to the United States in the war against terrorism.
“We are not accountable to the US. We are very clear about what we are going to do and what we are doing is in the interest of Pakistan, which lies in the fact that we must do everything to eliminate all kinds of terrorism. Terrorist of all kinds and colours will be eliminated from the soil of Pakistan,” he told an Iranian news agency
When asked about the presence of Daesh in Pakistan, he said, “On the issue of Daesh, it is a Middle Eastern outfit. No Middle Eastern outfit with the name of Daesh exists in Pakistan, but certain local terrorist organisations may be seeking inspiration or may be having some kind of interaction with Daesh. But this terrorist group as a Middle Eastern organisation has no footprint in Pakistan.”
Commenting on Pakistan’s relationship with Iran, Nisar said that Pakistan and Iran were jointly addressing border issues and were having frequent meetings at the operational and political levels. “There are lots of smugglers, gun-running, other people who go across, whether it is from the Iranian side or Pakistani side; it is almost impossible to fully monitor each and every point and corner of the 1000-kilometer border, but we are addressing it and there is an improvement,” he said.
However, he said, the situation on borders got pretty bad over the last few years, because there was lack of trust, absence of understanding and absence of the interaction between the two countries. The interior minister stressed the need for improving the level of Pakistan-Iran relationship to a level where it could reflect very strong feelings of brotherhood between people of the two countries.
“I think issues like economic cooperation, cooperation in security areas, border issues, they will be resolved, the important issue is to remove the mistrust and misunderstandings which I feel have come into the relationship of the two countries,” he said.
On his recent meeting with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, the minister said, “The main subject of the meeting with the Iranian top official was reviving the spirit of brotherhood and friendship in ties between Pakistan and Iran, which is a unique relation.”
He said that Pakistan looked forward to increasing its interaction and cooperation with Iran on many areas, including the border between the two countries. He went on to say that the objective of close and strong Pakistan-Iran relations was to fight all common enemies, whether they were terrorists or other actors, internal or external.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk