Karachi :
Pakistani students are not availing Russian scholarships recently increased from 5,000 to 9,000 partly because of the language barrier.
The Consul General of Russia, Andrey V Demidov, said this on Friday while delivering a lecture on the 65 years of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Russia.
Answering questions from the audience at Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA), the envoy said students were unwilling to learn the Russian language but perhaps they were depriving themselves from learning and understanding other cultures and civilisations.
About strategic talks among the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Russian diplomat said he had not got any official feedback on the issue but the settlement of Afghanistan, curbing drugs and extremism were the main concerns for all.
He believed that Taliban were part of the Afghan people and they could not be denied a role in “rearranging their country”. Since Afghan forces were “too weak”, it would be advisable that a peace-keeping force should stay there for a certain period, he suggested.
“The preferable choice for selecting such peace forces should be from Muslim countries like Morocco and Indonesia and other neutral Muslim countries with a mandate through United Nations,” he said. “A reliable regime in Kabul supported by Afghans is needed.”
Demidov claimed the Pakistani government gave three invitations to Russia to mediate between Pakistan and India to resolve the Kashmir dispute and improve the ties but New Delhi was not willing to allow Moscow to play such a role.
Russian President Vladimir Putin postponed the visit to Pakistan because it was not “well prepared”, he said. “When a head of state visits any country, it requires documents to be signed for different pacts but it did not happen in case of Pakistan.”
The Russian diplomat also complained that trade was one of the most important instruments to develop cordial ties but it was not increasing between Islamabad and Moscow, mainly because of lack of direct air, sea and banking links.
The Russian consul general added the media was also not helpful as it was increasing misperceptions, scaring away businessmen. “If peace returns to Afghanistan, this route could be use for trade ties,” he noted.
He said Russia was concerned over the trafficking of drugs from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Europe through Russia as young people were being affected adversely. “Drug trafficking is flourishing because Central Asian states are too weak to protect their borders.”
He suggested that curbing drugs required international cooperation. Terming drugs as one of the consequences of the prolonged war in Afghanistan, Demidov proposed that it could be addressed by giving jobs to ordinary Afghans and reconstruction of economy and agriculture there.
He also claimed that Russia considered Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline as a “reasonable thing” because Pakistan was desperate for energy resources and Moscow was willing to assist it as well. “Pakistan also has the sovereign right to give Gwadar port to anyone.”
The diplomat said Russian foreign policy was also evolving and it was multidimensional that supported cordial ties with everyone. He recalled there was a time when former Soviet Union was closer to North Korea but now Russia considered the country a threat to it.
Regarding Russia’s role in Syrian uprising, Demidov said President Basharul Asad was still ruling there because Syrian army was supporting him. He said Moscow was not supporting anyone, instead it was supporting the “code of peace”.
PIIA’s Dr Masooma Hasan observed that the issue of extremism and terrorism was a complex one and it might not be correct to say mainly poor or uneducated people were attracted to the phenomena.
She added it might not be easy to control drug trafficking by merely giving jobs and other means of cultivation to the people as it was a “lucrative business” and international cartels were involved in it.
source: http://www.thenews.com.pk / The News / by Imtiaz Ali / Karachi, Saturday – April 27th, 2013