Pakistan asks Kabul to close terrorist training camps
09-04-2000
LONDON, April 8: Pakistan has asked Afghanistan to close down training camps on its soil and extradite all those people who have taken shelter there after committing sectarian killings in Pakistan, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said here on Saturday.
"We have asked Afghanistan to close down these camps where people from Pakistani sectarian parties get armed training," the minister told reporters. "We have also asked them to extradite all those (Pakistanis) who have taken refuge there after committing sectarian killings," he added.
The minister said the government is determined to root out sectarianism from Pakistan and make it a civilized society. "I have made it clear to Sipah-i-Sahaba and Sipah-i-Mohammad to stop (sectarian killings)," the interior minister said. "If they don't stop we will get them by neck." The minister's statement came a day after when a Shia leader was gunned down in Karachi along with his son and driver.
Mr Moinuddin Haider said sectarian killings are not only tarnishing Pakistan's image abroad but also having negative impact on the society. "We have to think now as a nation as to which path we should adopt -- the one which leads us to become a civilized, liberal democratic society or the one where Shias and Sunnis continue to kill each other," he said. "Religious killings must stop now."
He said as a first step, the government has stopped issuing licenses for arms from February this year while a month later it prohibited the display of arms in public.
He announced that the next step would be to withdraw all the prohibited bore arms licenses as well as get these weapons back. "These have been issued in thousands and we intend to cancel all of them in next six months." The Interior Minister said those needing security can always hire armed guards from recognized security agencies.