Afghan immigrants under notice
Afghan immigrants under notice
Editorial
Editorial

The Government of Pakistan has placed all Afghan immigrants, including the illegal immigrants, under one month notice to leave Pakistan or face Government action which included their deportation.

The Government of Pakistan has placed all Afghan immigrants, including the illegal immigrants, under one month notice to leave Pakistan or face Government action which included their deportation.

The decision came to light following a meeting of the Federal Government asking the Afghan immigrants to leave the country. The UN agency will have to play the key role in repatriating the Afghans back to their homeland. Presumably, the Government is in contact with the UN agency for early repatriation of Afghans so that it should remain smooth.

The Federal Government took the decision following the deteriorating relations with Afghanistan and the terrorists using Afghan soil in subversive and terrorist activities against Pakistan and its people. The Balochistan Police Chief made a correct assessment before investigations that the suicide bomber is an Afghan and he came from Afghanistan.

His prophecy proved correct perfectly and investigations later proved that the suicide bomber was an Afghan and he was sent to Pakistan for a suicide attack. Earlier, the DG ISPR in his off and on news briefing announced that the Afghan immigrants are a security risk for Pakistan and they should be repatriated at the earliest.

It is general and unanimous opinion of the people of Pakistan that the Afghans should leave our country as they are not only a security threat to the Pakistan and its people but they are also a serious economic burden on our weak economy. A score of them are mercenaries while the others are economic migrants with bleak economic prospects back in Afghanistan. They want to live in Pakistan forever and will remain a serious burden on our national economy.

At the moment, they are occupying more than one million jobs, according to independent economists. The jobs are for Pakistani citizens and not for the aliens.

The Government, both at the Centre and in the provinces, should prepare a security plan for immediate repatriation of all Afghan migrants to their country. The Government should use police and Para-military forces in repatriating the Afghans with honour and dignity.

It is far better that there should be a voluntary repatriation supervised by the UNHCR for making it smooth and orderly. In case of resistance from the Afghan migrants, the police should use force and dislodge them. It will be more appropriate that the Afghan migrants should be taken out from the major cities and population centres in Quetta, Karachi and Peshawar and kept in barbed wire camps close to the Afghan border so that they are deported without wasting time.

Sooner or later, the Government will have to take this unpleasant act of deporting the Afghans as Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan are become increasingly tense with the passage of time.

The repatriation of the Afghans should have taken place long ago and by that time Pakistan could have easily normalized its relations with Afghanistan. The Pakhtun leaders intervened and prevailed upon the erstwhile Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and sought a one-year long stay for the illegal immigrants.

Nawaz Sharif obliged his political allies Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai in extending the stay of Afghan in Pakistan. Even after one year, fewer Afghan left the country and overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants are still enjoying life in Pakistan.

Pakistan and its resources are for the Pakistanis only and not the aliens, mainly the Afghans and the Indians, who crossed the international frontiers at will and their illegal stay is legalized or given legal cover for the past 70 years. This practice should stop as Pakistan can ill afford any influx of population from Afghanistan any other neighbouring country.

Pakistan should spend its resources on its own people and stop patronizing illegal immigrants. The people should be allowed with valid travel documents to enter Pakistan. The borders should remain sealed for all illegal immigrants from any country.