Pakistan to repatriate all illegal Afghans to curb smuggling: Kakar

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said all ‘illegal’ Afghan nationals would be repatriated to their country to curb smuggling of goods and foreign currency

Presiding over a meeting on Friday in Islamabad, Kakar said to prevent illegal practices, particularly the smuggling of currency and goods, an effective policy had been agreed upon.

“It has three categories, one [is relating to] those refugees who are registered and are our obligation under the international conventions and we will fulfill them at any cost. Second are the aliens who have no basis to stay here. Neither they have come on a visa, nor they have any legal documents,” Kakar told reporters after the meeting.

“The third category includes the ones who fall under the domain of identity theft who have gotten identity card by breaking into our system and other documents, which they were not legally entitled to. We have made a policy keeping these three categories in view and God willing, you will see it very soon that we will push back aliens because they have no right to stay on our soil.”

In the last few days, police in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi arrested hundreds of Afghan nationals for allegedly residing unlawfully in the country. But a senior diplomat from Afghanistan and a human rights activist said that many of those apprehended possessed valid documents.

PM Kakar explained that today’s meeting was held to monitor what had happened in the past week with regard to synchronizing all actions against smuggling, hoarding and power theft, and how could they take forward this strategy.

He said his government had “zero tolerance” for smuggled goods. “And an illegal industry of currency, our crackdown on that will be very consistent and this message should be conveyed repeatedly,” he said. “Whoever made investments in this illegal arena, I believe they will have to suffer huge losses.”

sa/ma