By IANS,
Islamabad : Collective steps are needed to tackle the growing menace of terrorism in the SAARC countries, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
“Pakistan, Afghanistan and India are facing the same problem of terrorism collectively,” Malik told reporters on arrival in Karachi from Bhutan after attending the SAARC interior ministers conference.
Malik said that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference was informed that Pakistan was a target of terrorists and lost 35,000 people, faced over 8,000 bomb explosions, and had to bear the brunt of over 3,000 suicide bombings during the last few years.
“We need international help and real time help, and we will share all the data with the SAARC countries,” he added.
He said Pakistan had suggested proposals to counter money laundering, drug money and other issues related to terrorism.
“De-radicalisation was top of the agenda and even President Asif Ali Zardari raised the issue with King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia, and they had a detailed meeting in this regard,” Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Malik as saying Sunday.
The minister said that he also raised the issue of kidnapping of merchant navy personnel that was affecting the entire region.