ISLAMABAD: Defending the incumbent government’s decision to repatriate undocumented individuals, Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar said that Pakistan could no longer continue to compromise its national security by accommodating such a huge number of aliens, ARY News reported on Monday.
“Our ultimate aim is to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous Pakistan – with associated benefits for our own people, for the region, and the wider world,” the interim premier said in an op-ed published in British Daily.
PM Kakar said that governments across the world were adapting to a new era of mass migration linked to conflict, climate change, and economic opportunism.
He said the UK Government’s plan to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda was a sign of that pressure. Similarly, he said France was also struggling, while Italy has expressed fears that it might become “Europe’s refugee camp”.
“After opening its arms to several million refugees in recent years, Germany is also feeling the strain, prompting the announcement of tough new deportation measures. The situation in the US is no easier”, he pointed out.
“Pakistan’s problem is of a different magnitude altogether,” PM Kakar said, noting that over the last three to four decades, “between four and five million migrants (roughly the population of Ireland)” had arrived in Pakistan.
“Many have no right to remain. Despite being a non-signatory to 1951 Convention on Refugees (and its 1967 Protocol), we have generously accommodated the single largest caseload of refugees,” the prime minister wrote.
Unfortunately, PM Kakar said that despite frequent opportunities to repatriate voluntarily, and multiple government attempts to register those who remained undocumented, a significant number had persistently refused to formalise their status, choosing instead to stay in the shadows.
He said that while Pakistan had benefited from many hardworking and law-abiding migrants, the overall socio-economic and security cost of this huge influx has been staggering.
“Many work on the black market, paying no tax, depressing wages for legitimate workers. They are also susceptible to exploitation by the criminal underworld, with all its disturbing links to terrorist organisations operating in the region,” he remarked
He said that since August 2021, at least 16 Afghan nationals have carried out suicide attacks inside Pakistan, while 65 terrorists killed in encounters with security forces, mainly in the bordering region, were identified as Afghans.
“No responsible government can ignore such concerns. Whenever we raised this with the interim Afghan government, they advised us to “look inwards”. We have finally decided to heed to their advice to put our house in order,” the prime minister commented.
PM Kakar further said that the “abrupt withdrawal” of Western allies from Afghanistan in August 2021 had prompted a whole new influx of refugees to Pakistan.
“Hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals crossed the border, claiming their lives were in danger. Again, we take their welfare very seriously, recognising that some do require special protection.
He said that Pakistan today stood at the crossroads of history.
“We can no longer continue to compromise our national security by accommodating such huge numbers of undocumented individuals. Our ultimate aim is to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous Pakistan — with associated benefits for our own people, for the region, and the wider world,” he concluded.
Read More: Illegal foreigners ‘seriously affecting’ Pakistan’s security, economy: COAS
In November, the caretaker government had initiated a nationwide campaign to deport illegal foreign nationals, the majority of whom are Afghans.
While the decision had prompted criticism from Afghanistan and several other quarters, the government refused to budge, insisting the move was not aimed at any particular ethnic group.
Of the more than four million Afghans living in Pakistan, the government estimates 1.7m are undocumented. So far, thousands of Afghans have returned home from the Torkham and Chaman border crossings.
