INVOLUNTARY REPATRIATION OF AFGHANS SHOULD BEGIN NOW

EDITORIAL:

The hypocritical approach towards the Afghans by the establishment should now end and all of the Afghans should be sent back to their home country, voluntarily or involuntarily. In 1980s, they were valuable political guests we needed to oust the nationalist and radical Government in Kabul as the imperialist world and their agents desired it. Now they are unwanted guests of Pakistani people, if not the State, and considered a serious economic and security burden in the wake of serious political and economic crisis Pakistan is facing. The Afghans contributed a lot in deepening the crisis of survival making it more complicated by siding with the enemies of Pakistan. In a conference in Australia, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, categorically declared that Pakistan would not accept the Afghan refugees after December this year. After December, the international community should establish refugee camps on the Afghan side of the international frontier and keep them there as long as the community wants. There is no place for Afghans on the Pakistani soil and the period of hospitality is over as they became a serious security threat. They are a serious burden and a security risk for Pakistan thus they should be herded out of all major cities of Pakistan, mainly Quetta, Karachi and Lahore, as the Government had already barred Afghans from Peshawar and Islamabad. We hope that the announcement made by the former Prime Minister in Australia is part of the State policy and not the personal views of the former Prime Minister. For this, the Government should make preparation to take all Afghans out of the major population centres, mainly Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, settle them in transit camps close to the Afghan borders till such time they are repatriated to Afghanistan. If they try to leave the camp should be arrested. Pakistan Government had fulfilled all its international commitment by providing them shelter, food, jobs and other services which were denied to the Pakistani citizens, mainly the Baloch people, to this date. There is no violation of international obligations on the part of the Government of Pakistan. Now the International Community should play its role by providing food, shelter and other facilities to Afghans on other side of the international frontiers. It is up to the Afghans they want to go back to their homes or prefer to stay in refugee camps inside Afghanistan. The international community should bear the cost of the refugees, including for their food, shelter and other comforts besides transporting them to Afghanistan from different points in Balochistan and KPK. The UNHCR should stop apply pressure tactics on the Pakistan Government, using power and influence of the super powers, to allow Afghans to stay back or settle permanently in Pakistan as they spent three decades in Pakistan. This argument is not acceptable and if the Government surrenders to the pressure from the international community allowing the Afghans to stay back, the Government will face wrath of the people who were deprived of their means of livelihood on the pretext of humanitarian assistance to the Afghans. The Afghans are economic refugees as they are facing no threat to their life as there is a friendly nationalist Government in Kabul and they are not at war with the Kabul Government. The Afghans are here for economic reasons or the militants misusing the goodwill of the people of Pakistan by using the Pakistani territories in launching attacks on Afghan and other foreign forces for political reasons. The militants should be first to be kicked out from Pakistan so that they should not undermine the security of the people of Pakistan. They use Pakistani territory as a springboard in attacking the US and other foreign forces; providing a risk of retaliatory attacks on Pakistan in which the people of Pakistan will suffer the most. The Afghan militants should not be acceptable at the cost of the innocent people of Pakistan. It is the responsibility of the Government to provide security of life to its own citizens. It should be the politics of the state to defend the people first against all pressure or incentives from foreign powers.