WASHINGTON (APP) -- Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said reconciliation, development and political engagement need to be brought into play to secure people’s support under a holistic plan to curb violent extremism in the long-term perspective.

In an interview published in an American newspaper, Qureshi favored the use of force where required but pointed out that the military option alone cannot resolve the problem.
“When force is required and when it is necessary, it will be used,” the foreign minister told Pittsburg Tribune Review during his visit to Washington last week for participation in three-way deliberations on finding an effective way forward in the restive Pakistan-Afghan border region.
But “reconciliation, socio-economic development, political engagement -- these are the prongs that need to be utilized to reach out to the people and win them over, and we aim to do that,” he added, emphasizing the criticality of having the people rally behind anti-terrorism struggle.
The chief Pakistani diplomat welcomed the Obama administration being in a listening mode during the trilateral consultations engaging two “principal players.” -- Pakistan and Afghanistan -- and said he would go back to his country with “new hope” for the direction of future strategy.
“We have a common objective and we need a common strategy -- if nations that have common values and principles could forge an alliance to defeat fascism and communism, then we can do it again and we can forge an alliance to defeat terrorism.”
Qureshi gathered the impression from his interaction with top U.S. officials that they do not claim to have all the answers and are prepared to listen to their partners.
“I think we have taken a big step, a leap forward, in bridging that (trust) gap -- what is so good about this interaction is that this (U.S.) administration is keen to listen. They do not claim to have all the answers.”
He defended last month’s Swat peace arrangement, informing the paper of the rationale behind the move. The agreement is not with the Taliban or al-Qaeda but with the people in response to their demand for Shariah’s swifter justice, which has been peculiar to and popular in the scenic valley that witnessed worst violence over last several months.
“The objective is to take the wind out of the sails of the militants. ... They were trying to latch onto this popular sentiment,” he said.
“By doing this, we have removed the raison d’etre for the people to ally with the extremists ... now we can target them in a more focused manner.
“Schools have reopened, they have agreed to lay down their arms, agreed to accept the writ of government, and the army has not been pulled out of Swat. And if they fail to live up to their commitments, the operation will start again.”
Stressing on the key Pakistani role and sacrifices toward security efforts in the region over several decades he said “Pakistan was instrumental in helping the United States of America in defeating the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan and contributed significantly to the fight against extremism and terrorism in human and economic terms”.
“We have lost more soldiers than the coalition forces put together in Afghanistan.” He said Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism. -