JEDDAH, 16 December — At the end of 2001, a quarter million stranded Pakistanis will have completed 30 years in captivity. At the start of every year those unfortunate Pakistanis have new hopes of repatriation which fades by the end of the year. Last year, there were some discussions about a meeting of the Repatriation Trust to activate the process which stopped in 1993. This year, the situation became more precarious because of the freezing of the trust’s account, the demolishing of hundreds of shanties in camps in April, the lack of support from charitable organizations and Pakistan’s political and economic situation due to the Afghan crisis.
One recent survey showed that 30 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 35 are ready to relinquish the idea of ever returning to Pakistan and settle instead in Bangladesh. Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee, the principal aid organization for stranded Pakistanis, says that more than 80 percent of the group have only one option — to go to Pakistan and because of that hope, they have lived in miserable conditions in camps for the last 30 years and have refused Bangladeshi citizenship. Many blame the vested interests of Pakistani politicians who accepted three million Afghan refugees for reasons of Islamic brotherhood but left a quarter million of our own people in pathetic conditions in Bangladesh. With 30 years of living without proper housing, food, medical care, education and unemployment, frustration is naturally growing among the stranded Pakistanis.
We are thankful for the role of the Islamic Development Bank, Muslim World League, International Islamic Relief Organizations, Organizations of Islamic Conference in extending assistance to their Muslim brothers and sisters. The real solution to their problem is their settlement. Those who want to settle permanently in Bangladesh should be given the opportunity along with necessary logistical and financial support. Those who want to settle in Pakistan should be given every help to do so.
In March 1998, the Pakistan Repatriation Council organized a seminar on Pakistan Day. The seminar was attended by a number of important and interested individuals and several proposals were made.
1. The trust for the rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis established in July 1988 between Pakistan President Gen. Ziaul Haq and Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, should arrange repatriation for 2,937 destitute families who were issued ID cards in 1992 and for whom 1,000 housing units were built in 1993.
2. The Pakistani government should approach the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to get the stranded Pakistanis officially given refugee status. This would allow the payment of certain living expenses, medical grants and the payment of certain transportation expenses related to repatriation. The Organization of Islamic Conference should also include in their agenda the collection of resettlement funds.
3. For the remaining 37,000 families who have at least one working member, the following is proposed:
a. To ask Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries to issue 37,000 work visas and offer employment. The Pakistani government must issue passports and give priority to their employment.
b. To ask IDB, ADB and national banks to finance the construction of 37,000 houses in Punjab where the land was allocated in 1988. Once the houses have been built, they should be offered to employed individuals on a 15-year loan which would be repaid in monthly installments.
c. The price of housing should be reduced from $5,000 per unit to $2,000 per unit. Single room housing units already built cost less than $1,800 per unit.
If some or all of these ideas were followed, we would be able to solve the problems of these refugees who have lived in misery for over 30 years.
