ISLAMABAD - Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi Saturday said frozen financial assets belonged to the people of Afghanistan and they should decide how the funds would be utilised.
In a statement regarding the frozen assets of Afghanistan, he said Pakistan was saying from day one that the frozen funds for Afghanistan should be unfrozen. He said the situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating and a crisis had emerged in the country. “It is our collective responsibility to tackle this crisis.” During the extra ordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad on December 19, a resolution was adopted which called for release of frozen funds for assistance to Afghanistan, he recalled.
He said according to the decision of the United States $ 3.5 billion would be given for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $ 3.5 billion would be given to victims of 9/11 incident.
The people of Afghanistan had reservations on it and they were saying that it was their money and it should be their discretion as to how they would use that money, he noted.
He said the people of Afghanistan were demanding that they needed humanitarian assistance and their resources should be given to them.
The minister said the world was saying that if Afghanistan was not given timely humanitarian assistance, then most of the population in 2022 would go below the poverty line because of the present crisis.
“Our opinion is that the frozen assets are owned by people of Afghanistan and it is imperative that this money should reach the people of Afghanistan even if its distribution is done through the organizations of the United Nations.”
Qureshi said due to scarcity of food in Afghanistan people particularly women and children would be affected. “We want that girl schools and hospitals are functional in Afghanistan.” He said money was needed to pay salaries of school teachers in Afghanistan. Economic collapse in Afghanistan was not in the interest of anybody and any economic collapse would result in huge influx of Afghan refugees, he observed.
He said law and order situation in Afghanistan had improved and at present, issue of people in the country was the dire economic situation.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has said that Afghan foreign bank reserves are owned by the Afghan nation and these should be released and the utilisation of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan.
Foreign Office Spokesman Asim Iftikhar , while reacting on the US decision to unfreeze the Afghan assets held by the US banks to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $3.5 billion for compensation to families of 9/11 victims, said that over the past several months, Pakistan has been consistently emphasising the need for the international community to quickly act to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and to help revive the Afghan economy as the two are inextricably linked.
Foreign office spokesman said that finding ways to unfreeze the Afghan foreign reserves urgently would help address the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people.
He said that Afghan people are facing grave economic and humanitarian challenges and the international community must continue to play its important and constructive role in alleviating their sufferings and time is of the essence.