April 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KARACHI, April 28: Retired justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, chairman of the Special Committee for Representation of Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, has said that repatriation of those Pakistanis living in Bangladeshi camps is their constitutional right because they have the citizenship of Pakistan under the international laws.

He was speaking at a meeting organized by the Tehrik Mehsooreen-i-Mashraqi Pakis-tan at the residence of noted intellectual Jamiluddin Aali.

Justice Siddiqui said 400 stranded families were allowed into Pakistan during the previous tenure of the Nawaz Sharif-led PML government. He said these families, settled in Punjab, were now living peacefully and had adopted the local culture.

Jamiluddin Aali hoped that the new government would not overlook these patriotic Pakistanis. He underlined the need for improving living conditions at the stranded people’s camps and holding of a fresh census to ascertain their population.

He said a formal request would be made to the government for the removal of legal obstacles in the issuance of Pakistani national identity cards and passports to the stranded people.

Haq Nawaz Akhtar, Nazim F. Haji, Mumtaz Husain Ansari, H.I. Siddiqui, Mohammad Humayun Zafar and Haider Ali Haider also spoke.—PPI