Successive governments in Pakistan have failed to resolve the issue of Pakistanis languishing in Bangladeshi camps for more than 40 years due to a vested political interest, said Mohammad Riaz Malik, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC).

Speaking at a symposium on Sunday, Malik said that the besieged citizens of Pakistan have still maintained their loyalty for their country despite being cold-shouldered by Pakistani politicians.

Malik was presiding over a PRC function to discuss the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis on a self-finance basis, which was attended by several prominent Pakistani expats. Ali Al-Ghamdi, a former Saudi diplomat, was the chief guest at the event.

Malik said that the PRC was doing its level best to raise the issue of Kashmir and stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. He said that the PRC’s proposal to solve the issue of settlement of stranded Pakistanis without it being a burden on the national economy is very simple and workable.

Al-Ghamdi lamented the mounting hardships on Muslims globally in countries such as Myanmar and the Central African Republic and said that the issue of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh could have been easily solved by the Rabita Trust, which was frozen in 2001. He advised the PRC to change strategy from stressing on repatriation to rehabilitation on a self-finance basis.

Syed Ehsanul Haque, PRC convener, earlier presented proposals to solve the issue. These included measures such as incorporating Bangladesh in the Rabita Trust, asking Islamabad to approach the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to seek refugee status for them, repatriating the 3,000 families who were issued ID cards in 1992, urging the OIC to take up the matter and approaching Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to issue work visas to 37,000 families who have at least one male member.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Azeez Ahmed, secretary-general of the Pakistan Engineers Society, Tayyab Mosani, joint secretary of the Pakistan Memon Association, Irfan Hashmi, a member of the Doctors Association, Mohammad Akram Agha, Pakistan People’s Community leader, columnist Mohammad Amanatullah, Syed Musarrat Khalil and Hamid Islam Khan. The function began with a Qur’anic recitation by Hafiz Mohammad Arshad.

Abdul Qayyum Wasiq conducted the symposium. Poets such as Zamurrad Khan Saifi, Wasiq and Sher Afzal recited poetry.