JEDDAH, 19 July 2006 — The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) has called on the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh to take urgent steps for the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis.
At a meeting held here on Monday night, PRC executive committee members adopted a resolution urging President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to help alleviate the suffering of the stranded people who have been languishing in Bangladesh camps for over three decades. The PRC expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in most of the stranded Pakistanis’ camps in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi authorities have threatened to evict the stranded people from some camps in defiance of a court order that restricts the authorities from evicting the inmates until their repatriation to Pakistan.
The PRC also urged President Musharraf to reactivate the Rabita Trust to facilitate the repatriation of those stranded. To overcome the shortage of fund, the PRC has proposed that the stranded people be issued passports and allowed to find jobs in the Gulf and Middle East.
The council called on the Pakistani government to instruct its high commissioner in Dhaka to look after the stranded Pakistanis and ensure their safety till they are repatriated to Pakistan.
The PRC members at the end of the meeting paid tributes to renowned poet Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who died in Pakistan recently. Qasmi was a staunch supporter of the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis and had written several letters to Pakistani leaders.
In Dhaka, Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee at a press conference called on the Bangladesh government to scrap the plan to evict the stranded people from camps in Mirpur.
The members of the committee said the government on the pretext of carrying out development work plans to demolish some 400 houses, 500 makeshift factories and a number of camps in Mirpur No.10 and 12. If the authorities go ahead with the plan, a large number of stranded Pakistanis would become shelterless and lose their livelihood.
They said that during a meeting on March 30, Bangladesh’s deputy minister for relief & disaster had assured them that steps would be taken soon for their repatriation. But there has been no progress, they said.
They said that suspension of the supply of relief goods since January 2004 had added to the miseries of the stranded Pakistanis. Around 25 people died of starvation and disease in some camps. They called for the restoration of the relief supply on humanitarian grounds.
They said many stranded Pakistanis had been detained under false and fabricated cases adding many of them were being harassed by the local people.
They urged Prime Minister Khaleda to restore the supply of 3 kilogram of wheat per family per month that was stopped in January last year. The electricity and water supply disconnected due to nonpayment of bills should also be restored, they urged.