JEDDAH: Speakers at a meeting organized here over the weekend called on the Supreme Court of Pakistan to address the issue of stranded Pakistanis languishing in Bangladeshi camps for over three decades.
A Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) meeting adopted a resolution calling on the government of Pakistan to reactivate the Rabita Trust in order to restart their repatriation. The symposium “Repatriation of stranded Pakistanis — our national obligation” was held to mark the anniversary of the fall of Dhaka on Dec. 16, 1971.
Syed Nesar Ahmed, president of Muslim Welfare and Development Organization, spoke about the plight of the stranded Pakistanis. He said the only solution to this problem is their early repatriation to Pakistan.
Rauf Tahir said Islamabad is under obligation to bring back its citizens from Bangladesh. He said Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry should take suo moto notice of the issue and ask the government to arrange their repatriation.
Another speaker Iftikhar Choudhry said: “We should learn from history that denying people their rights is detrimental to national interest.” Other speakers, who included Sameera Aziz, Shahid Nayeem and Irfan Hashmi, also supported the Supreme Court’s intervention in resolving the issue.
