OXFORD, Jan 31 Underscoring Pakistan's contributions to the war against militancy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said the country has rendered more sacrifices than the international forces in Afghanistan and the West should now reciprocate by helping revitalise its economy and enhance its capacity to counter terrorism.The foreign minister was delivering a speech on the 'Situation in Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism' at the Oxford University on Saturday evening. The event was organised by the Oxford Union and Oxford Pakistan Society as part of the Pakistan Young Leaders Conference.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was among a large number of students who listened to the speech. A portrait of late Benazir Bhutto hung in the hall along with other academics and politicians who had studied at the institution.

“Pakistan continues to fight for its own reasons but the international community must assist the country in enhancing our capacity to counter terrorism and provide economic assistance to stabilise the economy because there is a linkage between deprivation and poverty and extremism,” Mr Qureshi said.

He said Pakistan had been supportive of the fight against terrorism from day one and right since Nato and Isaf troops had moved into Afghanistan, but the fight lacked political ownership.

“Today, the democratically elected government has given this fight an ownership and that has made a difference.”

He spoke of successful operations launched in Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan and said an area one-third the size of England had been cleared of militants and over two million displaced people had returned home in 10 weeks.

The minister said the world was beginning to realise Pakistan's contributions and sacrifice of its people in human and economic terms.

“All the coalition forces put together in Afghanistan have not had as many casualties as we have had. The economic cost of this conflict to Pakistan has been over $35 billion. Through our national efforts we are taking on the extremists.”

Mr Qureshi said the London conference on Afghanistan had acknowledged Pakistan's point of view that money derived from drug smuggling and opium cultivation in Afghanistan was fanning and helping terrorism and that not enough attention had been paid to choking the flow of illicit weapons.

Pakistan had called for regional and international efforts to stop the menace and now the international community had realised the shortcomings and the conference had agreed to address all the concerns, including the issue of capacity building, good governance and elimination of corruption as well as reconciliation and reintegration of the saner elements among Taliban and Al Qaeda, he said.

The foreign minister said Pakistan was not begging for peace with India but it was important for the region and could best be promoted through trade links.

“We do have outstanding issues with India and want to resolve them peacefully. We can concentrate on the western borders only when threat on the eastern front is diminished. A two-front situation is not in Pakistan's favour.”

The minister said Pakistan was interested in result-orient talks with India and he had made it clear to his Indian counterpart during their last meeting held in New York.

“We are not interested in photo sessions but we want concrete actions on a roadmap we have given to the Indians.”

Mr Qureshi expressed the hope that the fifth round of composite dialogue, which was suspended after the Mumbai incident in November 2008, would resume soon.

The minister said Pakistan had entered into a strategic dialogue with the UK and Germany and a similar framework had been prepared with France.

He said strategic dialogue with the US was also likely in a couple of months.

He said Pakistan had upgraded its relations with the European Union and Spain would host the second Pakistan-EU summit in April.

The foreign minister said no strategy against terrorism could work without an all encompassing policy. He urged the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum to help the country in countering militancy through investments and joint ventures.

He said the government had taken measures to alleviate the suffering of poor people but the country faced an energy shortage and scarcity of sugar and steps had been taken to deal with the problems.

He said the law for the protection of women would encourage more women to play their role in nation building.

Responding to a question, he lauded the role of intelligence services in elimination and arrest of key Al Qaeda leaders and the said intelligence provided to allies in the war against terrorism had been extremely beneficial.

The minister said an operation in North Waziristan would be launched only when the situation was favourable.

Mr Qureshi said the government had taken up the issue of student visas with the British leadership.—APP