NATO, Pakistan say Afghan refugees must return home

* Aziz appeals for help to monitor Afghan border
* NATO secretary general urges end to ‘blame game’ in war on terror

BRUSSELS: NATO and Pakistan agreed on Tuesday that three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan posed a security threat and needed to be repatriated.

Talks between Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the 26 NATO countries centred on the need to close the refugee camps that NATO sees as a recruiting ground for extremists, a NATO official said.

“The refugee camps pose a real threat,” a NATO official said afterwards. “Certainly NATO wants to see it done.” However, he stressed it was for Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to determine the timing and that repatriation needed to be done properly. “Shifting three million people across the border without the appropriate conditions in place for living, for employment, is not a solution.”

After the talks, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer avoided public criticism of Pakistan’s failure to stop the infiltration of insurgents across its border with Afghanistan.

Scheffer told reporters at a joint press conference with Aziz that Pakistan was an important partner in the war against terrorism, and called for an end to the “blame game” and stepped up efforts by all the stakeholders to bring peace to the region.

Aziz said Afghanistan needed an approach that included security, development and repatriation. “We want them to be peaceful, we want them to grow and develop,” he said. “All sides have to do more and all sides are committed to a strong and stable Afghanistan.”

One alliance diplomat said Aziz had assured NATO nations that efforts to stabilise Afghanistan were Pakistan’s top foreign policy objective. “That was something allies wanted to hear and were glad to hear,” he said.

Aziz also urged western nations to provide Pakistan with more technology and intelligence to help it monitor the lawless frontier with Afghanistan rather than criticising it for not doing enough to crack down on cross-border insurgents.

He told NATO that the Pakistani government planned as a first step to move two refugee camps across the border into Afghanistan and urged western nations to back Afghanistan’s economy with a “Marshall Plan” type reconstruction drive that would win public support and curtail the influence of warlords and drugs barons.

Aziz rejected accusations by Afghan and US officials that Pakistan is allowing Taliban insurgents to attack Afghanistan from bases over the border. “Baseless allegations have been made through the media against Pakistan,” he said. “Instead of looking for scapegoats, it would be desirable to increase cooperation, especially real time intelligence sharing.”

Aziz said his government was still evaluating a deal with pro-Taliban tribal leaders in North Waziristan. He said the agreement “remains open to review and amendments” and stressed that the government would “act with force if required to do so”. However, a reference to a controversial Pakistani proposal to plant landmines along the border was crossed out of a text of Aziz’s speech at NATO which was handed to reporters. A NATO official said several allied nations expressed “profound concern” about the plan during the meeting with Aziz.

On Pakistan’s relations with India, Aziz said, “We are proceeding with our composite dialogue process, which has led to reduction of tensions and several confidence building measures. The time has now come to move from dispute management to dispute resolution.” He said that the Kashmir issue must be resolved in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiris.

On Iran’s nuclear programme, the prime minister said that Pakistan believes that Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under appropriate international safeguards. “We do not support any nuclear weapons proliferation by Iran,” he said, adding that the issue must be resolved through dialogue. Aziz said that Pakistan was concerned over the dangerous situation in Iraq. He urged the resolution of the Palestine dispute because it was vital for peace and security in the region. agencies

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