By Sanjeev Sharma
New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS): Former Canadian minister and diplomat Chris Alexander has hit out at Pakistan saying that it should compensate the 9/11 victims as the attacks were planned in Karachi.
The former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan says the Afghan assets belong to the people of the war-torn country, not to the Pakistanis.
"Assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan belong to Afghans — not to the Pakistani military's terrorist proxies or their victims. Pakistan should compensate victims of 9/11 — attacks planned in Karachi under a leader protected by Pakistan up to 2011", Alexander who was Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration said in a tweet with hashtag #SanctionPakistan.
Alexander has said that 9/11 attacks were planned in Karachi by a leader protected by Pakistan and therefore Pakistan should be the one to compensate 9/11 victims of the terror attack.
The United States has announced that it will give half of $7 billion funds of Afghanistan for 9/11 victims.
Alexander also pointed out that the funds belong to the Afghans and not to Pakistani's military's terrorist proxies probably referring to the Taliban.
"Six months ago, the US, @UN & @NATO abandoned Afghanistan to terrorist thugs sponsored by Pakistan. Stop clinging to a failed strategy that leaves Afghans in agony & makes the whole world less safe. Act now to end famine & oppression", Alexander said in another tweet.
Earlier, Pakistan has questioned the US decision of setting aside half of the Afghan assets held in America for the victims of the 9/11 attacks, saying utilisation of Afghan funds should be the "sovereign decision of Afghanistan", Express Tribune reported.
The reaction from the Pak foreign office came after US President Joe Biden in what is seen as a controversial move decided to split $7 billion foreign assets of Afghanistan between the victims of the 9/11 attacks and for the humanitarian assistance of Afghanistan.
The decision was even being criticised within the US with many people including victims' families of the 9/11 attacks insisting that Afghan funds should not have been arbitrarily used by the US government, the report said.
"Pakistan has seen the US decision to unfreeze the Afghan assets held by the US banks to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $3.5 billion for compensation to families of 9/11 victims," Pak Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a carefully worded statement.