JEDDAH, 12 October 2006 — The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a function here on Monday night to discuss the plight of stranded Pakistanis who have been languishing in squalid camps across Bangladesh for over three decades. The meeting adopted resolutions calling on the Pakistan government to take steps for the repatriation of the stranded people.
The symposium, entitled “Settlement of Stranded Pakistanis on self-Finance Basis” was presided over by Dr. Francis Lamand, the president of Islam and the West — an organization working to bridge the gap between Islam and the West. The chief guest was Pakistan Muslim League’s leader Mahfooz Yar Khan.
The PRC resolution called on President Musharraf to reactivate the Rabita Trust and implement the PRC self-finance proposal. It also urged the OIC to include the Bihari issue on the agenda of its forthcoming conference. The conference “Refugees in OIC states” will be held in Islamabad next month.
Pakistan was also urged to assign its high commissioner at Dhaka to take care of the stranded Pakistanis who are threatened with eviction from their camps. The PRC meeting called on charitable organizations including the Edhi Trust, welfare wing of MQM, Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League, Tehrik-e-Insaaf and others to help the stranded people.
Dr. Lamand spoke about the PRC proposal that envisages the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis on self-finance basis. The proposal calls on Islamabad to issue passports to the breadwinners of each family and help them find jobs in the Gulf. Lamand said he met President Musharraf in July 2003 in Paris and submitted a PRC memorandum on the issue. The president, he said, told him he would be invited to Islamabad to discuss the issue, but he has been unable to get an appointment so far. Lamand said he and Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef met the UNHCR director in Geneva to press the UN body to grant the stranded Pakistanis refugee status. According to UNHCR the request for granting such a status has to come either from the country of their origin (Pakistan) or from the host country (Bangladesh). He said Pakistan, Bangladesh, OIC and UNHCR should take urgent measures to address the issue.
Mahfooz Yar Khan said that his organization had held several conferences on the repatriation issue and being an active member of the Pakistan Muslim League he would seek Choudhry Shujaat’s help in meeting with President Musharraf to reactivate the trust. He praised Jamiluddin Aali, a prominent columnist, and Majeed Nizami of Nawai Waqt for raising the issue. Nizami created the Nawai Waqt Fund for stranded Pakistanis that has already sent over RS10 million to them in charity.
PRC convener Ehsanul Haque outlined the proposal that was sent to President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The proposal, he said, included recommendations that the Rabita Trust be reactivated.
Also included were suggestions that IDB, ADB and national & international banks be approached to finance the construction of 37,000 housing units in Punjab where the land was allocated in 1988.
Rauf Tahir, Aziz Ahmed and Maqbool Abbasi said the PRC self-finance proposal could take care of the financial aspect of the Rabita Trust project. Other guests and speakers included Amir Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Jameel Rathore and Farhan Siddiqui of Muslim Welfare and Development organization. Hamid Islam Khan conducted the function. There are a total of 250,000 people living in camps hoping for repatriation to Pakistan.
