This is the second time that Imran Khan has touched upon an issue that is not only controversial but sensitive enough to attract a national outcry. In September last year, he ignited a national debate when he declared that his government would grant citizenship to the children of Bangladesh and Afghan refugees born in Pakistan. Constitutionally and legally, Imran Khan was right. The law clearly provides that anyone born in Pakistan has the right to citizenship. If implemented, this would have created a population imbalance in certain regional pockets thus disturbing ethnic compositions that suit traditional political leaders to perpetuate their hold on this country. According to UN figures, Pakistan is home to 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and 74 per cent of them were born here. There is a common perception and substantial evidence to support it that the proliferation of gun and narcotic culture as well as terrorism in Pakistan owe its advent and spread to the influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion in 1979.
Since money laundering is considered integral to many wrongs and evils that have made their way into our society, it seems Imran Khan by allowing Afghan refugees to open bank accounts is seeking to curb the flow of money from and to Pakistan though illegal channels. Seen in this perspective it is a right decision and should be welcomed.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2019.
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