Our policymakers should contextualise this issue with attention to fresh security challenges
RAWALPINDI: One wonders why our government is delaying the repatriation of Afghan refugees? They first came to Peshawar in 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. At the time, the Afghan refugees were in difficult circumstances because they lost their homes and sources of income. Almost three million refugees came into Pakistan.
Millions of Afghans still reside in the country. These refugees procure Pakistani citizenship through different means. A large number of them are illiterate. They cross through the Durand Line without any security checks, posing challenges to Pakistan. Our policymakers should contextualise this issue with attention to fresh security challenges.
Usman Khattak
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2015.
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