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by Ranga Kalansooriya

Pakistan, the neighbouring nation of the conflict-ridden Afghanistan, is now facing a series of hardships due to the `ongoing strike against terrorism' by the US. With millions of refugees pouring in and domestic upsurge against its decision to support the coalition, Pakistan is more or less like a torch burning at both ends. However, Pakistan does not want to see a Northern Alliance Government in Kabul, as most of the Western countries wish. In an interview with the 'Daily News' Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Qureshi said that it would be a broadbased, multi-ethnic regime in which the Taleban is also an active partner.

Q: Pakistan is the country most affected by the ongoing strike against Afghanistan. What specific consequences are you facing at the moment by these strikes?

A: Let me tell you a little history before going into detail. Pakistan has a long, common border with Afghanistan and the major part of this border is not well guarded - they are open. Traditionally the Afghan people used to come into Pakistan over these borders, mainly during the winter season. Winter in Afghanistan is very harsh.

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan there was a major influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan mainly because of the conflict situation.

After the 1988 Geneva Accord almost all major donors who helped us run refugee camps pulled out and we were left with about almost three million refugees. Some of the refugees did go back after the accord, but a very large number stayed back. The lowest number we had was about 1.6 million. During the Afghan fights against the Soviet occupation, a lot of people did come - Osama bin Laden is one of them. Quite a lot of them stayed back and they are generally known as the Afghan-Arabs.

After the Soviet pull out, during the internal conflict of Afghanistan they sided with the Taleban which started as a movement against the mismanagement of the then regime - what is today known as the Northern Alliance. These Afghan-Arabs also took part in that fight.

Due to its border with Afghanistan, Pakistan is directly affected by the conflict situation there. Droughts, sanctions or any other impediment against Afghanistan resulted in an influx of Afghans into Pakistan. These numbers sometimes went into millions.

After the September 11 incident and the Security Council Resolution, the subsequent operations have created a severe refugee problem to Pakistan where the number has gone upto 3.1 million. This is the first affect on us.

Then, secondly, there is the regional instability. Whenever there is a war in Afghanistan, it affects the entire region.

The third aspect is the effect on our trade and economy. After the operations started, the Port of Karachchi has been put under war risk insurance cover.

A lot of multi-nationals and trading giants left Pakistan expecting a backlash. A lot of our regular importers felt the instability and a huge number of import orders were cancelled. As a result our export prices have gone up. According to our estimates for the current financial year we might experience a loss of two billion dollars. As a developing country, this is a huge amount for us.

Other than that, we have a very clear position on terrorism. We have opposed all its forms and manifestations of it. Because of our clear vision on terrorism we decided to support the coalition on its endeavour to fight against terrorism. One thing we made very clear was that our troops will not get involved in the fighting. The support which we are giving will be in the form of intelligence, logistical support, for rescue and other related missions, but not in terms of active participation. We are in touch with all major organisations like the UN, OAU and also with all leaders of the West and Arab countries.

We have taken up a clear position that the operations should be short. They should be stopped when the objective is achieved and the civilian casualty should be kept to the minimum, the action, mainly the bombings should be precisely targeted.

Although the Pakistani government is looking after the refugees inside its territory, we feel very strongly that assistance should be provided inside Afghanistan so that refugees do not have to cross into Pakistan where the camps are already full with more than three million people.

Regarding the domestic political situation, I must say that by and large an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are moderate and tolerant. They supported President Musharaff's decision to support the coalition to fight against terrorism. Even now the majority is with the government. It is only a tiny minority which has been agitated and taken to the streets. The law and order situation is totally under control. What you see on the television is only odd stuff and dramatic situations, but it is only a minority.

Q: It seems that Pakistan is now on a downturn in terms of the economy. Do you see any silverlining?

A: It is totally unpredictable. But in terms of a silver lining, a number of States which imposed sanctions on Pakistan after the 1998 nuclear tests, have lifted that barrier. This has become a positive factor to us. In addition to that, some countries have offered economic packages, but this assistance is not sufficient in terms of the effects that the country is facing. What we need is a full revival of economic activities. The more important factor is to create an environment where investor confidence is stable.

Q: Is Pakistan satisfied with the way the strikes are carrying on, especially considering the couple of mistakes they made when bombing?

A: We have regretted the civilian casualties and also the bombing of the ICRC and other humanitarian agencies which were definitely by mistake.

That is why we emphasise the fact that the civilian casualties should be avoided as far as possible.

In a battle situation these things cannot be avoided. But they should be kept to the minimum. The Afghans are already undergoing a lot of hardships.

The important thing is to work out what kind of a government has to be established in Afghanistan. The best thing is to have a broadbased, multi-ethnic regime with the representation of all the fractions in their society.

Q: Does Pakistan want to see a Northern Alliance regime in Afghanistan?

A: It is not that. It should not be the government of the Northern Alliance. They had the government for quite some and most of the problems that Afghanistan facing today is because of that regime. They were totally rejected by the Afghans. If they come to power the conflict situation will continue. At the same time it is not a question of alienating them totally. It is a question of having a representation of all the ethnic groups in the country.

The Northern Alliance are basically the Tajiks and Uzbeks whereas the overwhelming majority of Afghanistan is Pashtuns and most of them are with the Taliban. Therefore you cannot exclude them from any future government. This is not a new concept but this has been the idea of the United Nations resolution which has been adopted by the General Assembly.

Q: What about bringing back the former King?

A: Well, he is an Afghan. He can play a role in bringing all the factions together and that is the reason why Pakistan welcomes the representative of the Afghan King to visit Islamabad. He had meetings with our government and also met a lot of Afghans who are directly involved in the conflict. They are working towards such a move. In addition to that, there was a convention of Afghans in Peshawar with a representation of almost 1500 Afghans both coming from abroad and those living in Pakistan. They got together and passed a number of resolutions aiming at the establishment of a new government by Afghans with all representation. A foreign imposed government will not work out.

Q: It seems to me that the Pakistani point of view is quite opposite to the Western attempt of demonising the Taleban?

A: It is not a question of demonising the Taleban because in every group there are people with whom we can work with. Of course we cannot agree with all their policies even long before the September 11 incidents. For example, the question of the Bhamiyan Buddha; we were totally against what they did and we tried very hard to prevent that from happening. Similarly on their other policies relating to women, human rights, media and so on.

But the question of harbouring terrorists was also one of the points because a number of wanted criminals in Pakistan have taken refuge in Afghanistan.

We tried hard to get them back, but not all of them were returned for trials. These were some of the irritants which are already there.

But we would not like to demonise the entire Pashtun community as a whole because they play a very important role in Afghanistan.

Therefore you cannot ignore them by putting one label on them. One has to engage with them to discuss and bring out whatever moderate elements they have to form a new government.

Q: Is it the reason why Pakistan is recognising the Taleban regime when almost the entire world has refused to do so from the time of its establishment in 1996?

A: Afghanistan is our neighbouring State and throughout our history we have been dealing with the government which controls Kabul. There had been no change in our policy during the Najibullah, Northern Alliance and then the Taliban regimes. Even at the UN we advocated the fact that you cannot ignore the defacto government which is in Kabul. Even today we still maintain the relations with Afghanistan and we feel that it provides the opportunity to get the message across.

We see this in a positive aspect. Even now the visitors who come from abroad are free to meet the Afghan Ambassador. We hope this would facilitate an eventual settlement.

Q: There is some belief that Pakistan has some influence on the Taleban. What do you say?

A: Our influence on the Taleban is very, very limited. It is an independent country, it has its own government, its own policies - maybe we do not agree with some of their policies - but it is a separate matter.

An influence on government can come through various means. Either you have a government which is totally dependent or you are providing economic or military assistance.

But with Afghanistan neither of these are relevant. The only dependent factor is transhipment and trading - it being a land-locked country. Also, we do not have money to give Afghanistan or to help them to buy weapons. Therefore the influence is minimal.

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