ISLAMABAD: The jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday strongly criticised the caretaker government for expelling 1.5 million Afghan refugees last month, saying one wrong decision completely ruined the 40 years of hosting the Afghan neighbours.
In a ‘special message’ from Adiala Jail, the former prime minister who is also founding chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said: “For the last 40 years, the people of Pakistan stood with their Afghan neighbours, but a single flawed policy to expel them ruined all what we’d done for them”.
Narrating the incident of migration of the holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and Muslims from Makkah to Madinah, he said that the way Afghan refugees were forced to leave the country, is contradictory to the teaching of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
He said that such a treatment with our Afghan brethren is not only against Islamic teachings but is also against our cultural norms.
“Migration has special importance in Islam, as our holy prophets especially the way the holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) treated the refugees is what we need to follow,” he added.
He continued that looking after the Afghan refugees who had fled their country due to war, was our responsibility as a nation, adding Afghanistan is a brotherly country and we need to have brotherly ties with the next-door neighbour given our centuries’ old relations.
He said that for a nation, changing its neighbour is not possible and that is the reason they should help to solve each other’s problems: Good relations with its neighbours is the guarantee of Pakistan’s bright future.
He said that 1.5 million refugees could be in no way a burden on a country comprising 250 million people.
He regretted that the refugees who took refuge in Pakistan were mostly poor and destitute who could not go anywhere else except Pakistan, adding mishandling the issue of abruptly deporting the refugees could give birth to a misunderstanding between the two neighbours.
“The way they were treated will certainly give birth to hatred against Pakistan in the long run, which will further spoil the relations between the two countries for a long time,” he added.
He declared that there is a need to reconsider the deportation of issue of Afghan refugees as they deserve an honourable exit, and they must not be treated like what the caretaker government is doing with them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023