Illegal immigrants being sent back under govt policies, laws: Kakar

LAHORE: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday reiterated that as per the government’s policy and relevant laws, they were sending back all the illegal aliens and foreigners from the soil of Pakistan as the set deadline of October 31 under the repatriation process draws nearer.

He said that such a policy was not centric to only illegal Afghan nationals that had been staying inside the country but encompassed all those undocumented and illegal foreigners.

In an interaction with the students of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) during a special session, the interim prime minister elaborated that Pakistan had hosted more than four million Afghan refugees on its soil for the last 40 years under the Geneva Convention, despite the fact that it was not a signatory to that.

He said more than one million foreigners had been categorised as illegal who had been staying in Pakistan without legal and valid documents.

They were being encouraged to return to their native countries, he said, adding that if they wanted to return to Pakistan with the required legal documents and valid visas, there would be no restriction.

Replying to a question regarding an incident involving Afghan nationals, the caretaker prime minister said that he had already given direction to the relevant authorities of the interior ministry to ensure the dignity of the repatriated women and children as there might be vulnerable groups.

He said that Pakistan had entertained on its soil for decades those Afghans who had been registered as refugees and compared the treatment meted out to immigrants’ boats in the Mediterranean Sea.

To a query, he maintained that in various terrorist incidents, certain groups were involved and referred to a suicide attack in a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in which the suicide bomber was identified from DNA tests as an Afghan national.

He clarified that all Afghans were not terrorists but the involvement of certain groups in illegal activities was a part of the problem, adding, it was the prime responsibility of the government to protect the lives of its people which was also a constitutional obligation.

The caretaker prime minister said that government’s policies were framed after institutional inputs from different institutions and departments.

Replying to a student’s question, he said that the caretaker government was a product of a constitutional order after the former leader of the house and leader of the opposition in the previous National Assembly adopted a constitutional procedure and agreed upon his nomination.

Explaining his view in response to question by a student, the prime minister said that in Pakistan, democracy was in the transitional period and it had not been a settled one like that of a European country where the democratic system had taken a shape.

He said that for reaching to their destination, well-defined principles should be laid down beyond the political considerations.

There should be informed discourse, instead political dogfights on TV screens, he said and regretted that certain social and political trends, kind of hate and abuse on social media platforms, had become part of their lives.

Encouraging students to take bold decisions and engage in informed discourse over various challenges being faced by the country, the caretaker prime minister stressed that they should first explore themselves and then search for what they believed.

To another query with regard to freedom of expression and rights, the prime minister mentioned that the state had its constitutional rights and pointed out Article 5 which demanded for unconditional loyalty with the state.

He said that everyone had to follow sets of rules and regulations otherwise, it would lead to chaos and anarchy in a society. About May 9 incidents in Pakistan, he said that in the US too, the protestors involved in the Capitol Hill violent incidents were charged with and handed down different sentences. “We have to accept the legal consequences of an action as there is due process,” he said, adding that it were the functions of the parliament to frame laws and acts.

The prime minister observed that the modernisation phase in the world has been undergoing a huge transformation because it was an era of Artificial Intelligence. Explaining the purpose of his LUMS visit, the prime minister said that he was visiting all the provincial metropolitans and looking for the solution-based answers to the problems faced by the country.

He said they were looking for different approaches to these challenges and needed human resources, and in this regard the educational institutions could be the contributors towards ultimate solutions.

Responding to a query, the interim prime minister said that the interim set-up was tasked to run the whole country which was going through economic crunches and implementing an IMF programme.

He regretted that the majority of the people in the country were not contributing towards taxes as the tax ratio in Pakistan stood around 10 percent of GDP and stressed upon increasing the tax revenues like Scandinavian countries.