Repatriation of Afghan refugees: Govt to go all out efforts to provide safe instrument - CM

Report
from Frontier Post
Published on 27 Jan 2008
PESHAWAR: The NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shams ul Mulk has said that the government would go all out to provide a safe instrument to make the repatriation of Afghan Refugees to their country sustainable. The process of repatriation of Afghan Refugees to their country should be humane supported by a well thought out strategy so that the warm and friendly sentiments of the Afghan Refugees should not die down, he added. He was presiding over a meeting to strategize the repatriation of Afghan Refugees to their country here at Chief Minister's House, Peshawar on Saturday morning. Chief Commissioner Afghan Refugees Abdur Rauf Khattak, Secretary Home Badshah Gul Wazir, Special Secretary Tipu Mohabat Khan and Afghan Commissioner attended. The meeting was told about the Afghan repatriation strategy approved by the federal cabinet. The meeting was briefed about the arrangements that had already been taken as a part of the repatriation strategy. The meeting sought the recommendations to facilitate the repatriation process. The chief minister said that the level of arrangements for the repatriation should be up to the mark and the entire process should be humane and friendly so that the sacrifices offered by the people and government of NWFP should not drain. Whatever good we can do must be done and all the shareholders of the burden must have to fulfill their responsibility, he added. The chief minister said that we supported the Afghan Refugees for almost 30 years and their backing home should not provide a space for anti Pakistan elements to create anti Pakistan sentiments and exploit the situation to the hilt and thus harm the sentiments of Pakistan and its people which they espoused for their Afghan brethren. The NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shams ul Mulk said, the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan have some common bonds based on religion, brotherhood, and neighborhood. The NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shams ul Mulk suggested that the planners must plan the repatriation process realistically adding that all the shareholders of the burden must concentrate on the infrastructure development inside Afghanistan. "Afghanistan should have a net work of schools, vocational training centers, irrigation, roads, communication, health, and other facilities so that the burden of migrated refuges could be converted into an asset who would personally contribute to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. However, the NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shams ul Mulk said, the reconstruction process should be accelerated," he added. The chief minister said, we must be magnanimous and should go with open mind to facilitate the repatriated refugees in their home. It was not an easy task but we must find out reasonable solution to this gigantic task. "The reconstruction of Afghanistan was in the interest of the entire region as it would bring peace and development to the entire region", the NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shams ul Mulk mentioned.
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