MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Pakistan is ready to receive only a limited number of refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia Shafqat Ali Khan said in an interview with TASS.
According to the Pakistani diplomat, his country has historically received more Afghan refugees than any other - around four million in the past 40 years. He stressed that Afghans enjoy the same opportunities as Pakistani nationals, including in the spheres of education and healthcare.
"Our point is that it is going to be a problem because there is a limit to how much we can take. If there are too many refugees from Afghanistan, we will be the most affected but there will be other countries affected. The refugees will go to Iran, Europe, Central Asia. To solve this, you try to work out a political settlement in Afghanistan," he said, adding that it also concerns security issues, such as combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
He said he doesn’t know how many Afghan refugees have crossed the Pakistani border since the beginning of the current crisis. He also said that Pakistan plans to build a wall along the entire border with Afghanistan.
"There are designated entry points. That is why there is a huge crowd always. And you can cross these points with a visa. And we are trying to simplify the visa regime. There is such a load on our embassy in Kabul to issue visas, we try to facilitate and make it easier. But the border management is going to remain a key problem, but as things unfold we will see how we will deal with it and what kind of assistance we can ask from our friends to deal with the situation," he added.
Buying Russian weapons
Pakistan is negotiating a number of weapons contracts with Russia and hopes for closer cooperation in the defense sphere, Ali Khan said.
"I will not talk about procurement issues at this point of time because that is a sensitive matter," he said when asked whether any contracts in the military-technical sphere are being discussed. "There is a legal foundation for defense cooperation: we have the main agreement, there are some other agreements and yet some more agreements are under negotiation between the two sides. As they complete we will tell you."
"So far, we have been historically importing in aviation sector, and also in terms of helicopters. So, there is already a long tradition of working with the Russian defense industry. But I think it will get much richer in the years ahead," he stressed.
According to the Pakistani diplomat, the dialogue between Russia and Pakistan has become more structured in the past 15 years. "There are multiple levels of communication, structured dialogue progress at the level of foreign ministries, intergovernmental commission and similarly at the level of defense. 2014 was a landmark year. You know that defense cooperation agreement between the two countries was signed," he noted.
In his words, despite the coronavirus pandemic, more than 250 Pakistani services visited Russia this year to undergo training, attend meetings or take part in drills. "This is just September," he said. "Our ship came to St Petersburg for the naval parade. President Putin took the salute. That was very important for us. And more important, in the fall we will have the joint counterterrorism Druzhba military exercise in Russia."
"This again shows the depth of interaction and the depth of trust also between two sides," he stressed.
Pakistan Stream gas pipeline
Russia and Pakistan will soon start building the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline, Ali Khan said.
"Two rounds of commercial discussions have taken place and both sides are very satisfied with the progress achieved so far," he said. The diplomat added that most issues have been resolved.
"I don't know the details but the bulk of that is clear. Once they finish it, and then of course the date will come up for the start of construction. But we are very close to that," the diplomat said.
The intergovernmental agreement on construction of the North - South gas pipeline was signed in October 2015. Project implementation timeframe has been several times postponed since then.
On May 28, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov and Pakistani Ambassador to Russia Shafqat Ali Khan signed a document enabling to start practical implementation of the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline construction project (earlier known as the North - South pipeline) in the near future.