Siraj wants Pak-Afghan joint strategy for repatriation of illegal immigrants

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami emir Sirajul Haq has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to evolve a joint strategy for the return of the illegal Afghan expatriates. 

Addressing a news conference on Thursday the JI chief said, “The ill-planned crackdown launched against the Afghans staying in Pakistan will widen the trust deficit between the two countries. The matter should be resolved tactfully in consultation with the Afghan government.”

Afghanistan has become a stable country where peace and economic conditions are also far better. If any Afghan national living in Pakistan wants to return to his homeland voluntarily, it should be welcomed but sending them back forcibly is inappropriate, said Siraj.

He said that the situation arising after the government’s ill-planned strategy to expel the ‘illegal foreigners’ was deplorable. “Women and children have been suffering for days on the way from Karkhano Market till Torkham border without having any food or other necessities of life. This is against the basic principles of humanity,” he said.

Sirajul Haq hailed the announcement of general elections’ date. He lauded the Chief Justice Supreme Court for bringing the nation out of confusion.

Deliberating upon the situation in Gaza, the JI chief urged the Muslim rulers, including Pakistan, to convene an early meeting of OIC heads of states and announce full financial and military support for the Palestinians.

He said that Pakistan and other Muslim countries were demonstrating silence over the massacre of Muslims, including women and children, in Palestine owing to the fear and pressure from the US.

Sirajul Haq rejected the unprecedented hike in the gas tariff after the increase in the power and petroleum products prices by the caretaker government.

He said that it was beyond the mandate of the caretaker government to increase prices of daily commodities.

The JI chief also expressed reservation over the political and economic crisis in the country and held the previous rulers responsible for the mess, adding that the previous rulers pushed the country towards the slavery of the IMF.