Announce to form committee to find amicable solution to issue
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Friday ruled that there should be an immediate halt to arresting and harassing Afghan refugees in the province.
He directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to restrain the cops from detaining and harassing the Afghan refugees. He said Pakistan provided hospitality to Afghans for more than three decades and now they should be repatriated with honour and respect.
He said it was not the provincial government’s policy to harass the Afghan nationals who were not involved in crimes. He announced the formation of a parliamentary committee consisting of leaders from all political parties to find an amicable solution to the issue.
He directed Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman to constitute the committee within 15 days and asked the parliamentary leaders to give the names of their representatives in it.
Debating the issue, Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said Afghan refugees were forced to leave their country because of the tussle between big powers in Afghanistan.
Commenting on Imran Khan’s tweet, he said it should be investigated who issued directives to harass the Afghan refugees because the PTI leadership has demanded that the refugees should be treated according to United Nations conventions.
He said raiding houses of the Afghan refugees at night was insulting and creating hatred among them against Pakistan which hosted them for 35 years.He said the Afghan refugees would definitely go to their motherland, but they should be sent with honour and dignity so that mistrust was not created between the two neighbouring countries.
Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said it was a matter of Pakistan’s image and a bad message should not go to the world over the issue.He said Pakistan and Afghanistan were not only neighbours, but shared a common religion and culture. He said Pakhtuns lived on both sides of the border so any action that might create hatred should be avoided.
He said the number of Afghan patients visiting hospitals in Peshawar had gone down and India was giving them air tickets at concessional rates to get treatment at Indian hospitals. He said in the long run Pak-Afghan relations won’t remain unpleasant because they were neighbours.
Shah Farman, Nighat Orakzai and Fakhre Azam said the Afghan refugees should go back as the country can no more afford their hospitality.Shah Farman said the United Nations, US and Afghan government should make arrangements on emergency basis to resettle the Afghan refugees as they would have to go.
The speaker adjourned the session till Monday afternoon.Later, talking to reporters Member Provincial Assembly Meraj Humayun Khan of Qaumi Watan Party said the government should constitute a special committee to oversee the repatriation process of the Afghan refugees.