JEDDAH, 20 December 2002 — The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) held a symposium in Shaheen Restaurant last week to remember those killed during the India-Pakistan war in 1971 and those Pakistanis still languishing in Bangladesh camps.
Professor Francis Lamand, president of Islam and the West, presided over while the chief guest was Khalil Ahmad Nainitalwala, chairman of Stranded Pakistanis Repatriation Committee.
Lamand regretted that the stranded Pakistanis have been living in miserable condition in camps across Bangladesh for the past three decades. He said he planned to meet Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and discuss the repatriation and rehabilitation of the stranded people in light of the PRC proposal.
Lamand said he would also visit Bangladesh to seek support from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in resolving the issue. He said that Bangladesh should grant nationality to those willing to settle down there. He hoped that with the establishment of a civilian government in Pakistan the resolution of the issue will be easy.
Nainitalwala, whose organization is actively involved in efforts for the repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis, said it is a pity that successive governments in Pakistan did not pay attention to the issue while over three million Afghans and over a million Bengalis are living in Pakistan.
He hoped that Prime Minister Jamali will consider it as a national and humanitarian issue.
PRC convener Ehsanul Haque said PRC would extend all possible support to Professor Lamand to make his meeting with Prime Minister Jamali successful.
He regretted that Pakistani politicians, charities and non-governmental organizations remained indifferent to this humanitarian issue.
Poets Naseem Sahar, Abdul Qayyum Wasiq, Habib Siddiqui and Ahmed Saood Qasmi recited poems in memory of those killed in the 1971 war. Qari Waqar Jamil recited verses from the Qur’an.
