Achakzai seeks legal status for Afghans in Pakistan

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): A veteran Pakistani Pakhtun nationalist leader has voiced aversion to the government’s ongoing campaign to deport Afghan refugees.

Instead of being hounded, rounded up and forcibly repatriated, Afghan refugees be granted legal status, the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chairman suggested.

Mehmood Khan Achakzai said many Pakistanis had been granted citizenship of the UK, Germany and Turkiye. He asked why Afghans born and bred in Pakistan were being denied citizenship.

Addressing a public meeting in Pishin, the PkMAP voiced grave concern at the increasing instability in the region and underlined the need for joint efforts to tackle common challenges.

China, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and India should hold a conference on devising a joint strategy for ensuring that the region did not become a battleground in the future.

Achakzai claimed the entire world was aware of industrial-scale rigging in the previous general election. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf won the vote, but its mandate brazenly stolen, he alleged, blaming the military establishment for doctoring the results.

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