ISLAMABAD, Feb 12 (APP): 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 utilized.
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 extraordinary 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.
