KARACHI: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has severely criticized, what he called, “wrong approach” and the “policy of appeasement” of previous government towards TTP.
In an interview to Al Jazeera the other day, he said “its policy of appeasement towards the Taliban has created problems for the people of Pakistan,” adding that the former approach has been ended by his government.
He further said “we recently had a national security meeting of the top political and military leadership our country where it was decided that we would not tolerate terrorist groups and anybody who violates the law in Pakistan.”
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Responding to questions about Afghanistan, Bilawal reiterated on the need to engage with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers despite the group’s hardline policies vis-a-vis women. This came after the Afghan Taliban banned women from universities last month, and shortly after the group also banned women from working in NGOs.
He said “the solution is to engage the Afghan government and try to convince them to live up to their promises to the international community whether it is to do with women’s rights or the issue of terrorism.”
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He further said “I do not think turning our back and disengaging is an option. And it’s certainly not an option for Pakistan which shares such a long and porous border with Afghanistan.”
In response to another question, he said he had not recalled the Pakistani ambassador in Afghanistan back home after an attack on its mission in Kabul last month.
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“He was due back for some briefings and dialogues. I hope we will have the security necessary to send him soon,” he said.
