KARACHI: Plan to help aliens leave country under way
KARACHI,July 10: Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said the government will soon evolve a framework to help aliens living here illegally to go back to their countries of origin.
He was talking to newsmen after a visit to the headquarter of the National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) where he was briefed in detail about its working and achievements by Director General NARA, Mohammed Saleem Khan.
The minister was informed that a joint initiative of the National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) and the UNHCR to register aliens in Islamabad/Rawalpindi and in the NWFP was under progress and so far 184 non-Afghans had been registered with the help of the UNHCR, while the NARA team of Islamabad had also registered 43 non-Afghans on its own.
The minister was also informed that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had also shown interest in capacity building of NARA and in assisting the Authority in repatriation of aliens.
“They are also finalizing a draft project for carrying out a scientific survey of aliens living in Karachi,” The DG NARA told the minister.
He said that during the last 18 months NARA had registered over 32,281 adult aliens and overall 78,700 including minors. He said on average 70 aliens were registered per day.
He said NARA had earned a revenue of Rs11.87 million through registration and work permit fee from January 2002 to date. During that period, he said, 30,981 cards were printed, and of them 28,810 were distributed.
He said the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority had also been contacted, and on NARA’s request the KHFA is issuing “fishery cards” to aliens possessing the Aliens Registration Card (ARC).
The DG NARA gave statistics on registered illegal immigrants. They include Bangladesh 22,995, India 50, China 47, Afghanistan 8026, Sri Lanka 52, Iraq 120, Iran 58, Philippines 49, Somalia 57, Indonesia 13, Malaysia 23 and Burma 14, besides individual immigrants belonging to Jordan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Egypt, West Indies, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Venezuela, Australia, Syria, Rwanda, Palestine, Zaire, USA, Nigeria, Lebanon, Turkey, Russia, Sierra Leon, Benin, Albania and Algeria.
He said a committee had been constituted to consider claims of Bengali immigrants in Karachi. Headed by DG immigration and passports the committee was assigned to consider/examine the status of Bengali immigrants and submit recommendations to the ministry of interior.
He said the committee had recommended the constitution of another committee comprising representatives of federal and provincial governments and legal experts to study the similar problems faced by other countries and make recommendations.—APP
