PESHAWAR - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, slamming an ongoing police crackdown on refugees, has demanded Afghans in Pakistan be given ample time to wind up their business.
In a rare unity, lawmakers on Friday stressed an immediate halt to the harassment of Afghan refugees. They denounced raid on refugees’ homes in Peshawar as unlawful and inhuman.
Qurban Khan, a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party, said Afghan refugees had set up businesses worth billions of rupees during their stay in Pakistan over the past three decades and a half.
“After the crackdown, they are confused what to do. They can’t wind up their businesses in such a short time,” he remarked, calling for treating the Afghan traders in a decent way.
Under the agreement among Pakistan, Afghanistan and UHCR, the legislators said, the legal stay of registered Afghans was to last until the end of December 2016 but the police had made their lives miserable.
Launching the debate on the issues, Awami National Party parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak wanted to know who had ordered police to hound Afghan refugees.
“Being Muslims and Pakhtuns, we have strong relations with Afghans, so the provincial government should honour them,” Babak said,regretting the characterization of all Afghans as terrorists.
Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said no one could damage relations of Pakhtuns with Afghans.“We have the same religion, same language, same culture and same history.”(Pajhwok)