One million Afghans staying illegally, PA told

PESHAWAR: NWFP Minister for Law Arshad Abdullah on Wednesday said that about one million Afghan refugees lacking valid documents were residing in different parts of the country.




He was responding to the question posed by Awami National Party's lawmaker Shagufta Malik in the NWFP Assembly. She had drawn the government's attention towards the harassment of the Afghan refugees by the police.




Arshad Abdullah admitted that the Afghan refugees were facing problems across the province, especially in Peshawar, for security reasons. Owing to the ongoing insurgency, everyone should have valid documents while moving around the city, he said. "If I don't have my identity card, the police will not allow me to enter the city and can even arrest me," the minister said.




The minister said the government would take action against police officials found involved in harassing the Afghan refugees. Speaking on a call attention notice, Shagufta Malik raised the issue of harassment of the Afghan refugees by the police for not holding valid travel documents.




She said that she had received several reports of Afghan refugees' harassment even if they possessed valid documents and this was creating a bad image of the police among the Pakhtuns in Afghanistan.




She said the government should repatriate the Afghan refuges in a proper way instead of making life miserable for them in Pakistan. Talking on a point of order, PML-Q MPA Nighat Orakzai said some leaders of the ruling parties were using the word Pakhtunkhwa for the NWFP, which was not correct as far as there was no constitutional amendment. She urged all the political parties to unite against the insurgency and the worst kind of terrorism.




NWFP Minister for Housing and Physical Planning Amjad Khan Afridi presented the Defence Housing Authority Peshawar (Amendment) Ordinance, 2009. On behalf of the NWFP chief minister, Law Minister Arshad Abdullah presented the NWFP Public Service Commission Bill, 2010.