Source Dawn
KOHAT: A jirga of Afghan refugees living in Kohat has demanded of the government to allow extension in their stay till 2020.
Addressing the jirga at Ghulam Banda refugee camp here, the maliks requested the Pakistani government to stop their expulsion and closure of schools in the camps, as it would destroy the future of their children.
They eulogised the good gesture of the government for granting them stay for 30 years with honour and dignity. They claimed that the current government in Afghanistan might not welcome them and there would be an imminent danger to their lives if they returned now.
The jirga was addressed by Maulana Zafar, Najmuddin, Noor Hassan, Malik Gul Ali and Malik Ghafoor and attended by a large number of refugees.
They accused the government in Afghanistan of playing in the hands of Nato and India which had no concern with their rehabilitation, but to establish an anti-Pakistan rule there. They said that the west and India wanted to create hatred and differences between Afghans and Pakistanis.
They demanded that the stay of illegal Afghans be extended till 2020 and of the card holders till 2025.
“We now consider Pakistan as our home and give all honour and respect to its institutions so the government should consider our demand on humanitarian basis,” the jirga members said.
A large number of Afghan refugees believe that the deadline of Dec 2016 for their return is false and they could leave whenever they like. One Gul Agha who owns a shop and his wife works as a maid in houses said that the government could not uproot their businesses and force them to vacate their houses to which were attached memories of their parents and grandparents.
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