Pakistan said on Friday $1.9 billion dollars have so far been spent on the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb and return of internally displaced persons (IDPs). “Pakistan has met these expenditures from its own resources,” Foreign Office spokesperson said, during his weekly press briefing in Islamabad.“The Coalition Support Fund (CSF) is reimbursement of the expenditures Pakistan incurred before the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb,” the spokesperson added. Further, he said talks with the US authorities for the release of CSF fund are underway. The remarks come amid uncertainty on whether the US would release $300 million in military aid to Pakistan, which is dependent on US government certification that Pakistan is targeting the Haqqanis. Pakistan seeks few hundred million dollar instalment from IMF in return or implementation of its harsh conditionalities but has spent staggering two billion dollars from its own resources since June 2014 when the operation was launched. There are indications that the operation may extend beyond 2019 if its objectives are to be achieved and the gains stabilized. This means that the country will have to spend at least $8 billion more on the on-going operation even if cost escalation is not included in the estimates. This is in addition to over $100 billion losses that the country has suffered during the last one decade because of its role as frontline state in the fight against terror. The United States has been reimbursing some of the expenditure but not the all and it is a fact that the amount is reimbursed after a lengthy and cumbersome process. Experts have been pointing out that Pakistan has been diverting resources from other areas including development to fund the cost of war on terror. In this backdrop, we have been emphasizing in these columns since long that the authorities concerned should prepare a comprehensive and persuasive case for submission before the international community as success or failure in war against terror has its implications not only for Pakistan but the region and beyond. Pakistan committed blunder when the then President General Pervez Musharraf pushed Pakistan into US lap to fight terror without getting anything substantial in return despite reports that Washington was willing to provide at least $10 billion.The subsequent governments too failed to make a convincing case and the country has been made to bear the burden at the cost of poverty and backwardness of its people.
pk.shafaqna.com
