ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has told Afghanistan not to get hoodwinked by India and respond to Islamabad’s peace efforts, officials said.
Senior officials at the foreign ministry told The Nation that Pakistan had contacted Afghanistan as the Eid approaches to find ways to defuse tension.
“We have told them to go through the UN report released on the World Refugee Day (June 20). We are the ones who have helped them when they were in trouble [in the past] and we are still supporting them. India is misguiding them and we have asked them not to get hoodwinked,” said one official.
Yesterday, a UN report said Pakistan ranked second among the countries to host the highest number of refugees.
The UN also praised Pakistan for its efforts to relocate displaced refugees, mainly from Afghanistan.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report said that there were 65.3 million refugees around the world who were displaced because of war, poverty, economic conditions and natural disasters.
Turkey ranked first, with 1,587,374 refugees, most of whom are from Syria.
Pakistan comes second with a total refugee population of 1,505,525 followed by Lebanon, which hosts 1,154,040 refugees mainly from Syria.
The UNHCR’s annual report ranked these three countries as being the top hosts for refugees since 2011.
The estimated population of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is of the documented refugees only.
The number of undocumented refugees remains unknown.
This year, Pakistan forces had moved heavy artillery and military equipment closer to Pak-Afghan border in a bid to stop infiltration and destroy the militants’ hideouts along the frontier after Afghanistan fired inside Pakistan.
Later, however, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Pakistan did not want any confrontation with Afghanistan and was committed to resolve all issues peacefully.
Tension intensified between the neighbours after Jamaatul Ahrar claimed responsibility of the recent wave of terror in Pakistan.
Islamabad asked Kabul to act against the militants hiding along the border, which was not satisfactorily responded.
Kabul has since been accusing Pakistan of sheltering militants who allegedly carry out terror activities in Afghanistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have also handed over lists of alleged training centres to each other seeking action.
Another foreign ministry official said that Pakistan wanted to placate Afghanistan ahead of Eid, which always united the Muslims.
“We have a religious bond. Afghanistan needs to work with us not India for peace. They cannot change the fact that we are their neighbour. Kabul has been put on the wrong track by India and we are trying to get them back on track. They should respond to our peace efforts,” he said.
This year, Pakistan extended a deadline for Afghan refugees to leave the country until the end of 2017.
The authorities had earlier launched a crackdown against illegal Afghan refugees.