Zardari seeks help to boost security
PM wants Pak-Af border fenced
Tanvir Siddiqi/Sharafat Kazmi
Islamabad—President Asif Ali Zardari has underscored the need of
international assistance to strengthen the civilian security sector
for effectively combating the militants.
Talking to US Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Janet
Napolitano here at the President House on Friday, the President said
Pakistan also needed more assistance for the rehabilitation of the
Internally Displaced Persons.
The President underlined the need for early setting up of
Reconstruction Opportunities Zones (ROZs) in FATA and other tribal
areas to provide jobs to the poor, to wean them away for extremists.
Secretary Napolitano said the US administration was conscious of
Pakistan’s requirements in the ongoing fight against militancy and
was keen to help Pakistan in all ways possible.
Ambassador of USA Ms Anne W.Patterson, Interior Minister Rehman
Malik, Secretary General Salman Faruqui, Foreign Secretary Salman
Bashir and senior US and Pakistani officials attended the meeting.
The US secretary also called on Prime Minister Seyd Yousuf Raza
Gilani. The Prime Minister urged the US government for its support
in working out a permanent solution with the government of
Afghanistan to check uncontrolled, illegal crossings particularly of
militants, terrorists and drug trafficking from across the border
with Pakistan. Referring to the US Secretary for Homeland Security’s
initiative as Governor of Arizona about erecting a wall between the
US and Mexico border, he said that a similar pattern of fencing
between Pakistan and Afghanistan could be followed to stop
infiltration and drug trafficking.
The Prime Minister underlined the fact that the international
support to Pakistan for the displaced persons of Malakand Division
so far has been inadequate. He said that Pakistan has made
innumerable sacrifices in terms of life and material losses in the
ongoing military operation. He urged the US and the international
donors to deliver on their pledges made in Friends of Democratic
Pakistan’s meeting in Tokyo.
He also called for the immediate provision of military hardware
including Cobra helicopters, technology transfer as well as
financial assistance to build the capacity of Pakistan’s law
enforcement agencies and their personnel to prepare them for the
control of the affected areas after the military operation comes to
a successful conclusion in Malakand division and Waziristan
agencies.
The Prime Minister asked the US Secretary for Homeland Security to
facilitate PIA’s direct flights operations to the US destinations.
Ms. Janet Napilitano said that the issue of PIA’s direct flights to
the US would be resolved after due consideration in the near future.
She also promised that the US would expedite disbursement of the
pledged amount for IDPs and the financial assistance committed in
Tokyo to help Pakistan’s immediate needs.
Federal Minister for Defense Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Federal
Minister for Interior Rehman Malik, Senator Sughra Imam and US
Ambassador to Pakistan Ms. Anne W. Patterson were present during the
meeting.
