Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Legislators in Lower House of Parliament on Monday told the government that the people of Pakistan had served Afghan Refugees with great honour and their repatriation by force would destroy all the sacrifices of the last four decades.

Under United National Guidelines, it was also not good for Pakistan to expel Afghan Refugees by force because Pakistan was also signatory of refugee-related international laws under UN. Some of the Afghan Refugees have established some good businesses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the rest of the country and expelling them would badly affect the economy of Pakistan.

However, Interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly that Pakistan served the Afghan refugees for more than four decades but now the situation had changed. There were some security concerns confronting the country which needed some drastic decisions. Pakistan respects Afghan refugees. He said when a country granted refugees status to the resident of any country, then some international laws applied, like boundary lines drawn where refugees were living.

But in case of Afghan refugees, the situation now totally changed and some other issues created which required some special management. The interior minister also said that some of the Afghan refugees had Pakistan identity cards and also made passports. He accused some of being involved in terrorism related activities. The minister said the government would formulate a national policy on repatriation of Afghan refugees to their home country. Responding to various points of order in the National Assembly, he said around 3.5 million Afghan nationals, both registered and unregistered, were living in Pakistan and were treated like brothers by Pakistanis.

Nisar said repatriation of Afghan refugees was a complicated issue. All the chief ministers would be invited to a high level meeting to discuss the issue of their repatriation and make a national policy in that regard. He said refugees were an international issue. Elsewhere in the world they were confined to camps. The majority of the Afghan refugees, he said, were peaceful, but some of them were found involved in illegal activities.

Responding to other points of order, Ch Nisar said a parliamentary committee having representation of all political parties was being set up to address people’s problems regarding Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) and also passports. There were scores of problems which were pointed out by the members and the parliamentary committee would address all such issues being confronted by the people. The members would not need to visit the offices of NADRA. He said a drive had been launched against fake CNICs which were issued to foreigners during last 12 years. There might be a chance that CNICs of some genuine Pakistanis were blocked, but these issues were being resolved, he assured the MPs.

The Interior Minister said three mega centres of NADRA were being set up in Karachi, which would be opened by this year or the next. Significant progress had been made in that regard, he added. He said four NADRA vans would be deployed in Korangi areas of Karachi.

Nisar said there were a total 92 passport offices across the country. Many districts had no passport offices, he added. He said it was categorically decided that a passport office would be set up in all the districts. Process in that regard was underway and these offices would be opened soon, he added. Earlier, FATA Parliamentarian GG Jamal said the Afghan refugee issue was very important because it was related to the Western border of the country.

Earlier, in a notice, the FATA representatives said that houses of tribal people were destroyed in military operation Zarb-e-Azab and the residents were not remunerated. Such a situation would create further deprivation among the tribal people. However, the House was informed that the government had begin giving Rs 0.4 million to returned IDPs for construction of houses. For this purpose the government had given Rs5 billion. A survey has been conducted, according to which 4,250 houses were damaged and compensation has been given to 416 houses.

The National Assembly on Monday passed the Members of Election Commission (Salary, Allowance, Perks and Privileges) Bill, 2016 with majority votes. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad piloted the Members, Election Commission (Salary, Allowance, Perks and Privileges) Bill, 2016 in the House as reported by the Standing committee.

Opposing the bill, PTI Chief Whip Dr Shireen Mazari said the ECP members were already getting salaries and other perks and the government was now bringing a bill. She said it was illegal to pay them salaries as the bill was not yet passed by the House. Parliamentary leader of PPP, Naveed Qamar said the members were being paid salaries on an adhoc basis. He said the bill should be passed to provide them legal cover.