Protests continue against refugees, maritime zone bills
An Afghan family, who were living as refugees in Pakistan, carries bundles of supplies at a humanitarian aid station in Torkham, Afghanistan. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Progressive and nationalist parties of Sindh continued to protest against the proposed of National Refugee Bill, 2023, and Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill 2021 waiting approvals in the National Assembly and the Senate.
The workers of Awami Tehreek staged a protest outside Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday, opposing the tabling of National Refugee Bill, 2023, and Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill, 2021, in the upper and the lower house of the parliament. The AT leader Advocate Ismail Khaskheli contended that the refugee bill is an effort to pave the way for giving nationality to the illegal immigrants whose majority is living in Sindh.
He said the digital population census in which the condition of showing the national identity card was waived for the headcount and the bill are parts of the same conspiracy against the province's native population. "We consider both these bills as attacks on Sindh." Khaskheli said the center wanted to occupy the islands of Sindh in the garb of the maritime bill.
He vowed to resist both the bills by leading protest movements in the province. Meanwhile, the Jeay Sindh Mahaz has rejected National Refugee Bill, 2023, and Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill, 2021, as detrimental to the rights and interests of Sindh province and its people. The party's chairman Riaz Ali Chandio said the maritime bill is a renewed attempt to occupy the islands of Sindh and to create more artificial islands controlled by the center near the coastline. He considered the refugee bill as an attempt to legalize the illegal stay of foreign nationals particularly of Afghan origin in Pakistan, mainly in Sindh.
He said as per the United Nations, the declared refugees are restricted to stay only in the refugee camps unlike in Sindh where they have been allowed to live, trade and work.