ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has urged the international community to support Pakistan in the cause of hosting Afghan refugees.
He was addressing the virtual international conference held on the subject of the status of refugees and homeless persons amid the COVID-19 situation, according to the FO statement.
The foreign minister said Pakistan had been hosting the Afghan refugees for four decades and would also take care of them during the COVID-19 outbreak. He urged the world to join hands with Pakistan to provide basic needs to Afghan refugees and enable them to live a dignified life.
He said international cooperation is required more than ever before. He said Afghan refugees are expecting the world to rebuild their country after the restoration of peace there.
Pakistan hosted five million Afghan refugees and today three million registered and unregistered Afghan refugees still residing in Pakistan. He said Pak-Afghan relations have provided an impetus to host millions of Afghan refugees, he added.
The minister said peace and stability are indispensable and Pakistan would continue supporting the Afghan peace process. FM Qureshi said Pakistan was the second-largest country in the world to host a big refugee population for a long time.
He said Afghan refugees were being provided all kinds of facilities in Pakistan. The FM mentioned that COVID-19 was fast spreading in Pakistan like other developing countries of the world. He said the pandemic had put a negative impact on the economy of the country.
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