Thank you, Mr. Dosanjh, for the question.
I guess you share my frustration, having served as a defence minister during much of the time you've just described.
As far as being an apologist for Pakistan, that's not at all what I'm here to deliver. In fact, on every occasion, both privately and publicly at forums such as this, I think we have delivered our outright encouragement and have demanded that Pakistan improve its efforts; that they do more in the areas you have described and that that I described in my remarks; that they in fact step up efforts at the border; and that they should very much go after the insurgents, individuals and leaders, within the Taliban circles.
I'm not here as an apologist for anyone. I'm here to outline what the government has been doing. I would suggest that we have engaged regularly, often, and directly with leading Pakistan figures and will continue to do so.
I find it ironic that, coming from your party, you would criticize us for doing so and for engaging so directly when, at the same time, you're criticizing us for engaging other countries in the same way and demanding that we do so. One doesn't seem to be consistent with the other. We have to do this with all countries. When we have occasions to meet with leaders and give those tough messages, we'll continue to do so.
We knew many of the penetrating statements, the obvious, that you have told us about--the whereabouts of Taliban leaders. It's why we're calling on them to take more action, to improve border security, and to act more forthrightly at the United Nations, which was the message we brought with us when we met with President Musharraf in New York.
These solutions are not easy without the full participation of Pakistan. They're a sovereign country, just as we are. We can only bring these messages to them in a forceful but respectful way if we expect them to act.
I would suggest that implementing these measures around the border is the most direct way we can achieve the mutual objectives of stopping this flow.
This flow of the Pashtun, as you well know, has been going on not for hundreds of years but for thousands of years. This isn't something that can be stopped overnight.
Let's look at the length of the mission, which has been five years, in comparison to the length of time people have been crossing that border.