News Analysis |
Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday said that Pakistan has suffered the most in the war against terrorism. He said this in response to US President Donald Trump’s New Year’s tweet, which accused Pakistan of ‘lies and deceit’. Abbasi declared Trump’s remark unacceptable since the Pakistani nation has lost tens of thousands of lives in the war against terrorism, and suffered more than 120 billion dollars worth of economic losses.
The PM said this in an exclusive interview with Reuters. He claimed that Pakistan is fighting the largest war on terror in the world. He also warned against any moves against Pakistan, stating that putting economic sanctions or constraints on Pakistan will limit Pakistan’s ability to fight terrorism. The US recently suspended Pakistan’s military aid and warned that they might withdraw Pakistan’s name from major non-NATO allies, and also declare Pakistan as the state sponsor of terrorism.
On the other hand, he declared Pakistan’s resolve to move against terrorist groups banned by the United Nations and US. The move to ban and seize charity organizations run by militant groups could be an attempt to improve the relations with the US.
Abbasi stated that most of the aid suspended is from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) which reimburses allies for supporting counter-terrorist operations. He demanded the US to respect Pakistan’s contribution in the war against terrorism. Abbasi also informed that Pakistan is considering the prospect of charging the US for using its airspace. He also said that if the US is quantifying its expenses then Pakistan should also count the expenses incurred for the use of air space but he clarified that it’s a hypothetical scenario.
Read more: Abbasi tells US they are wrong
Abbasi stressed that his government will move against the charities run by militants with plans to seize their control. Last month, Pakistan announced to take over charities linked to militants groups. “Yes, the government will take over the charities which are sanctioned and not allowed to operate,” Abbasi told Reuters. The most important of these charities is the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) founded by Hafiz Saeed in 1990. It is allegedly connected to the banned outfits Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Abbasi warned the US government that the suspension of aid will lower Pakistan’s capacity to fight terrorism, which in turn would lead to unrest in the region. It could also be in the result of the upcoming visit by the UNSC sanctions monitoring team, in an attempt to avoid any further sanctions against Pakistan.
Both Hafiz Saeed and all the organisations related to him have been sanctioned by the United Nations. PM Abbasi assured his support to the UN against the banned outfits. “Everybody is on board, everybody is on the same page, and everybody is committed to the implementation of UN sanctions,” he said in the interview. The United Nation’s Security Council’s (UNSC) sanctions monitoring team will visit Islamabad on January 25th and 26th.
PM Abbasi reiterated the same Pakistani stance in his interview with Reuters but one change was observed in his stance about the US. Previously, Pakistan declared that the aid provided by the US is a minuscule amount of our total budget, with some estimates saying that it was less than 1% of the Pakistani budget. In his interview with Reuters, Abbasi confessed that the suspension of aid would affect Pakistan’s capabilities of fighting against terrorism.
Read more: Abbasi speaks the language of his political patron
Abbasi warned the US government that the suspension of aid will lower Pakistan’s capacity to fight terrorism, which in turn would lead to unrest in the region. On the other hand, he declared Pakistan’s resolve to move against terrorist groups banned by the United Nations and US. The move to ban and seize charity organizations run by militant groups could be an attempt to improve the relations with the US. It could also be in the result of the upcoming visit by the UNSC sanctions monitoring team, in an attempt to avoid any further sanctions against Pakistan.