ISLAMABAD, Apr 28 (APP):Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Shehryar Khan Afridi Sunday said Pakistan had been on the forefront to protect the world from the scourge of terrorism and our sacrifices were needed to be acknowledged.
Addressing the participants in a briefing held here at the ministry of safron, the minister said Pakistan had not only defeated terrorists but was also preventing illegal immigrants from entering into Europe.
He urged the world community to play its due role in honorable repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland.
Shehryar Afridi said it was an irony that Pakistan had been hosting around four million Afghan refugees for the past four long decades but the world was not ready to share its burden, said a press release issued here.
He said despite the financial crunch situation, the Pakistani government was making utmost efforts to facilitate the Afghan refugees.
He said while many western countries could not accept a single boat of migrants and elections were being fought on anti-migrant policies, Pakistan was all alone doing its part to generously host four million Afghans since 1979.
The world needs to recognize Pakistan’s contributions. The commitments made by the world have not been fulfilled, he said.
“We are working on Refugee Policy which would soon be unveiled. We will work with all organizations to help repatriate Afghan refugees,” he said.
Shehryar Afridi said the Safron ministry would play a proactive role in the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and all issues would be resolved.
“The way the global community is helping Syrian refugees, there is a need to focus on repatriation of Afghan refugees. Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees for the past forty years and we want the world to help their repatriation with honor as Afghanistan is ready for peace,” he added.
Afridi said the ministry would help resolve issues faced by Afghan refugees per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and revolutionary steps taken for their issues like permission to open bank accounts to 1.6 million Afghan refugees was an example in this regard.
The minister said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was committed to delivery of rights and restore self-respect of the ignored and abused segments of the country.
He said the repatriation of Afghan refugees with honor and esteem would be his priority and he would work untiringly to mitigate the suffering of Afghan refugees and people of tribal areas.
“I am here to make a difference and Prime Minister Imran Khan has tasked me to lift the morale of tribal people. Restoration of the esteem of the ignored segments of society and we would work together to lift the downtrodden,” he added.
Afridi said he would ensure to restore the self-respect and esteem of all the public servants too.
“We will promote cooperation with federating units. For the first time in our history, Pakistan has started to take its own decisions in the supreme national interest. We need to reestablish the connection of common man with the state and the government,” he added.
Briefing the participants on the policies of the federal government, the minister said as a state minister for interior, he had launched a ruthless drive against encroachers of the state, retored land the writ of state had been restored and the powerful mafias had to subdue before law of the land.
“We at Interior Ministry enforced regulations over International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) and banned several INGOs involved in the violation of our laws. We also launched crackdown on law violators in the name of religion and sectarian issues,” he said.
The minister said due to the positive implementation of modern technology in state affairs, the Interpol has become a Pakistani client in curbing human smuggling.
“We have a huge human resource and we have to develop them into a potent force. We will value every citizen of Pakistan. We will work on out of the box solutions of the issues faced by people living in tribal areas,” he said and added Afghan Commissionerate would be made self-sustainable.
