‘Effective border management in interest of both Pakistan, Afghanistan’

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Tuesday said peace was linked with Pakistan and Afghanistan and effective border management and security was in the interest of the peoples of both countries.

The caretaker minister made these remarks during a meeting with Afghan media delegation. The meeting discussed problems of Afghan journalists, visa issues and other important issues.

Speaking during the meeting, Murtaza Solangi said that it was the responsibility of the media to identify the enemies of peace so that the state could defeat them.

Solangi held out the assurance that the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be contacted on the visa issues of Afghan journalists.

As a responsible state, Pakistan will ensure that all foreigners enter the country through legal channels, he added.

The delegation of Afghan journalists thanked the Federal Minister of Information for the assurance to redress their issues.

Pakistan has set a November 1 deadline for all illegal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country or face forcible expulsion.

Pakistan has hosted the largest number of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979. Islamabad says the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan totalled 4.4 million.