ISLAMABAD, 10 January 2007 — Canada yesterday opposed a Pakistani proposal to lay land mines near the Afghan border but supported fencing to stop Taleban fighters crossing back and forth.
Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in Islamabad that Canada was unwilling to compromise its support for an international protocol to restrain the use of land mines. He said a better solution lay with fencing, augmented with border patrols, aerial surveillance and increased use of technology.
“Fencing, I think, is part of that solution, particularly in high traffic areas, and there have been experiences with fencing that have been very effective,” MacKay told a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. The Pakistani foreign minister said the country would look at other options before going ahead with the border-mining plan. “Before we finalize we will definitely give due consideration as the objective of Pakistan and Canada is same, that is, to make sure that the unwanted movement is controlled,” said Kasuri.
He said, “We understand the Canadian position as the country is a signatory to certain international agreements which ban mining.”
The Canadian foreign minister said, “We have a good experience in border security management. We are willing to share our experience with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.” He said his country could provide new technology to both Islamabad and Kabul to check movements of militants. “We are willing to provide drones and other equipment to monitor the border.”
Thirty-six Canadian soldiers were killed last year, and the Canadian media has been highly critical of Pakistan’s efforts to rein in Taleban fighters. Afghanistan and its allies say the Taleban are still orchestrating their insurgency from Pakistani sanctuaries, although hundreds of Pakistani troops have been killed fighting Al-Qaeda and Taleban guerrillas in the Waziristan tribal agencies since late 2003. “We are quite fed up of allegations of this nature,” Foreign Minister Kasuri said.
Kasuri welcomed Canada’s offer of help to devise a system of border security that would avoid laying mines.
Govt Ordered to Trace Missing People
The Supreme Court has ordered the government to find the missing people whose relatives have been protesting at different forums since the past several weeks.
Some relatives of the missing people petitioned the top court demanding early recovery of their kin, who, they said, were kidnapped by intelligence agencies.
The Supreme Court took up the cases of 41 people who disappeared during the past several months. Human rights organizations claim that these people were kidnapped by the intelligence agencies in the name of “war against terror.”
