WAF urges govt to address issues of Afghan refugees

LAHORE: Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has shown deep concerns over the precarious situation of Afghan refugees, recently entering into Pakistan and issued a four-point agenda for the government to follow.

Reports said it was a humanitarian crisis and must be addressed the issue accordingly; and as to ensure refugee status and necessary papers to all those fleeing their homeland for their lives and safety, so that the UNHCR has a clear framework to start facilitating those arriving. It demanded to facilitate those Afghans, who used Pakistan as transit passage to reach their destination. The woman forum pleaded the authorities to address the issue at source and use its influence with the Taliban government to create conducive environment for all by ensuring their safety, security and well-being, including their access to their fundamental right to life, education and work.

The WAF said it is more than anything else that the people leaving Afghanistan and if the Taliban’s incumbent government would facilitate, it would prevent the brain drain, and (iv) give temporary status to those not in transit till such a time, when it is safe for them to return to their country. The WAF has also urged the United Nations to urge the government of Pakistan to allow UNHCR and other humanitarian aid agencies to fulfill their mandates and ensure the safety and security of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. It shared the government’s concerns about the influx of the extremist groups in Pakistan but failed to understand the government’s support of extremist agendas with regard to its own policies.

The statement issued said the Taliban government in Afghanistan to whom it is seemingly providing unconditional support regardless of its brutality and rejection of democracy.

At home, the prime minister’s public statement that he intended to pardon the defunct members Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan despite their horrendous record of mass murders and brutality, and the government’s support of retrogressive rulings such as the compulsory impositions of dress codes, including hijab in educational institutions, while the prime minister’s refusal to support laws that are against what the Islam termed ‘Islamic guidelines’.

In the light of the above situation, the WAF has urged the government to put the country’s interests first and give priority to the well- being and safety of the people of Pakistan particularly those who are extremism’s soft targets such as women, children and non-Muslim populations, and not to the short-term gains of vested interest groups.