JEDDAH, 4 July 2003 — The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) has urged Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to take over as chairman of the Rabita Trust and begin the repatriation of Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh since 1971.
An audit report earlier cleared the Rabita Trust of embezzlement charges.
Speaking at a reception in honor of Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, a National Assembly member from the Pakistan Muslim League, PRC convener Ehsanul Haq said a PRC delegation met Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi during his recent visit to Jeddah and urged him to help with the rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis in Punjab after their repatriation.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Ghulam Haider Wyne built thousands of houses in 1993 for stranded Pakistanis who were scheduled to be brought back from Bangladesh. Some were brought to Pakistan from Bangladesh in 1993.
Ehsan said a number of people supported the PRC in its efforts for the repatriation of the stranded people, among them Abdullah Omar Naseef and Professor Francis Lamand, president of Islam and the West.
Lamand, he said, visited Islamabad and is scheduled to visit Dhaka along with Naseef to find a solution to the longstanding problem.
Maqboolur Rahman Abbasi, another speaker, said that if Islamabad issued passports to the heads of the members of stranded families they could find jobs and bear the expenses of their own repatriation and rehabilitation.
Ashfaque Mazhar said stranded Pakistanis were hard workers and those who came to Pakistan in 1973 contributed to the development of cities and villages.
Amir Mohammad Khan and Asad Akram of the Pakistan Journalists Forum urged the Pakistani government to take urgent measures to resolve the issue.
Choudhry Shahbaz, who presided over the meeting, said he would extend all assistance to the PRC in resolving this issue.
He had already presented the PRC proposal to Prime Minister Jamali, he said.
The PRC proposal envisages repatriation of stranded Pakistanis on a self-finance basis.
