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Press TV has conducted an interview with Shahid Qureshi, a journalist and analyst, in London, about a major military offensive launched by Pakistan in North Waziristan to oust terrorist elements. 

Press TV: Tell us a little bit about the area that’s been targeted – North Western Pakistan, home to loosely-governed tribal area – perhaps you can tell us more especially in terms of the number of extremists that just seems to always keep multiplying - and the reasons why behind that.

Qureshi: That’s a very good question. In the area there are groups of people about 45 of them who are using the title of Taliban, but some of them are criminals, drug dealers, drug lords, foreign agency sponsored agents – sponsored by the Afghani intelligence service, sponsored by the Indian intelligence agencies…

So all these groups are concentrated there and there was confusion among the people, among the laymen. When they hear the word ‘Taliban’ they think they are talking as if all of them are the same, but that is not the case.

For example, Uzbechs who were involved in the Karachi airport bombing – that was kind of a last straw on the camel’s back. When they found out that Indian arms, ammunition as well as medical equipment was recovered by the Pakistani security forces – there is no doubt there was a security lapse - but that security lapse was also to do with the total failure of the civil administration as well as the police at a local level.

The logistics and the launching of these terrorists were provided by the local people in Karachi. So that is something, which people need to understand that when the army is doing an operation they are have done their homework for the past six months and that’s why they’re doing these specific targeted operations against specific places because they have on-the-ground intelligence of who they’re hitting and why they’re hitting.

Surely there will be people displaced as a result of it, but it’s not going to last for month and months, maybe in a couple of weeks this thing will be over.

Today the army chief has called in the Afghan ambassador to Islamabad and surely he asked for his support and assistance in terms of completion of this operation successfully especially the criminal elements.

For example, in Afghanistan the Indians have about six consulates, which are more consulates than they have in the United States and those consulates are fuelling terrorist activities in Pakistan, in Fatah, as well as in Baluchistan and in other areas.

These issues have been brought to the attention of the Indian prime minister in the previous government and I think the present government also seems serious to have serious consideration and serious dialogue with the Indians to look for a better peace.

As well as Iran’s role is very important especially in Baluchistan. Their cooperation will be very welcomed and it will in the end lead to a good relationship for everybody in the region.

Press TV: We have four viewer comments and please tell us that indicates based on these different viewers that the Pakistani army is killing innocent civilians.

I would think that that would be a consequence, but if you can tell us if the US maybe is involved in this – whether or not they are involved really that the loss of innocent civilians is not something they contemplate as being wrong.

Qureshi: There is no doubt that innocent civilians have been killed as a result of US drone policy in the area.

Coming back to your colleague in the US (Kamran Bokhari, VP of MENA & South Asia) about his comments… the total cross border insurgency in Afghanistan over the past ten years was about 3 percent, which was linked with the Pakistani/Afghanistanis living in refugee camps – about 3 million of them, they’re still living there after about 30 years… now… they are the people that were crossing the Afghan border - about 60,000 every day and that is only about 3 percent, which was linked with Pakistan.

But what about the 97 percent of the insurgency happening in Afghanistan, the Pakistanis do not have any control over there and the US could not succeed to subdue that insurgency and the NATO forces surely.

As far as the influence of Pakistan on Afghanistan is concerned, the only way Afghanistan can reduce the influence of Pakistan is if they grow their wheat if they grow their oil, even the basic domestic food is being provided or smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

So, Afghanistan is like another city or province as far as the domestic economic side is concerned because the wheat…I’m talking about the basic necessities.

Even in currency terms the Pakistani currency is being used in Afghanistan, which we have seen the NATO forces and US forces recovered from the people who are operating from within Afghanistan.

As far as the three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, Pakistan will always have influence in that area.

And the families are divided on both sides of the border especially the Pashtun areas, which are the majority of people living in Afghanistan, they will have a historical link with each other.

So I think Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan; Afghanistan was the only country who opposed Pakistan’s UN membership and that is a strange kind of comparison or analysis now. The upcoming prime minister is from the northern lines with whom Pakistan always had a very good relationship and I must say that had Ahmad Shah Massoud not been martyred by the terrorists that things could have been different in Afghanistan than they are now.

Ahmad Shah Massoud wasn’t against Pakistan; he was very nationalistic and had a very close policy towards his neighbors. So, that analysis that Pakistan is losing influence on Afghanistan is not true. The influence will always be there as long as people-to-people contact is existing.

And the people who are visiting, the visitors the US and NATO, they are going to go anyway so who is going to be left? The people who are living in this area for a very long time, they are the people who are running those day to day affairs.

Now… three million Afghan refugees who were not given a chance to vote in recent elections is a very significant number. Even the current ambassador in London has said that he was able to get a fake passport from Pakistan to fly to Germany and seek asylum.

So they have a very close relationship, they are kind of in-grounded in the culture of Pakistan, into the society of Pakistan and it would be very difficult to move them. UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) hasn’t been able to rehabilitate these refugees living in Pakistan for 30 years and as a result of the US policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan we have more than about five million IDPs (internally displaced persons) and this current operation is going to create more IDPs. So, these are the things that need to be understood by the international community.

Press TV: When you have countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who comes into Pakistan and gives a gift of 1 or 2 billion dollars to the government, maybe even more, but at the same time we know there have been some of these extremists that have been taken from Pakistan to fight in Syria – basically Saudi money providing support for these terrorists.

Tell us more about the Saudi role when it comes to these Taliban terrorists inside Pakistan when they get exported out to a country like Syria to fight the government there.

Qureshi: I think one needs to clearly understand that the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan are fighting a legitimate struggle against an occupation, against an invading army.

What is happening in Pakistan… the terrorists in Pakistan, some of them, are basically criminals and the Taliban on the Afghanistan side do not recognize them as a group or someone who is fighting against some kind of invasion or some kind of occupation or occupied army. They are a splinter group created by foreign agencies inside Pakistan so we should understand the difference between the two.

As far as the talks between the Taliban and the US are concerned that is a very wise thing to do. The US is on the way out; they have understood in the last ten years who are running the cities, who are running the large areas in Afghanistan? It was the Taliban. The Italian example is there, the French example is there and the British example is there; they were all in local agreements with the local commanders to survive in Afghanistan with the least casualties. This is the reality and no one should have any doubt about it.

As far as the two billion dollars or some aid is concerned coming from Saudi Arabia into Pakistan I think that is a peanut. Pakistan’s black economy has more money, they have about 200 billion dollars in Swiss accounts and the black economy in Pakistan does not require Saudi money for any kind of activity.

But having said that, Iran is a good neighbor of Pakistan, but we need to understand that what Iran can do in terms of providing assistance in rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan, getting this terrorist phenomena outed once and for all instead of blaming countries using Pakistan as a battleground for various ideologies.

I think it’s time to have a political dialogue instead of a religious dialogue between Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan… because when we talk about exporting an idea or an ideology that’s when the problem starts. I think the political dialogue within Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan and the other countries will resolve this issue.

I did hear about this that some of the people have been sent to Syria to fight the Assad regime. These are disillusioned terrorists basically, these are mercenaries and some of them have been hired by Blackwater and other mercenary forces operating from within Pakistan.

Sana Ghani gave 5,000 visas to the Blackwater people when Mr. Zardari was in power and Mr. Zardari was supposed to be very close to Iran, but he never thought about that when he was issuing those visas to these Blackwater mercenaries who are operating in Pakistan and some of them might have been transferred to other countries – we don’t know about that we don’t have any evidence about that.