PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that government will take steps to immediately expel all illegal Afghan refugees.

He said that a mechanism would be evolved for honourable repatriation of legal Afghan refugees as soon as possible. “Similarly our borders with Fata also need immediate attention to secure Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rest of the country from infiltration of miscreants wherein sending back and deployment of FC platoons at Fata borders is prerequisite,” he added.

Mr Khattak said durable peace, prosperity and progress was possible with strictly following the golden principles of Quiad-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

In his message to the nation on the birth anniversary of the founder of the country, he assured the people of the province to have full confidence in their elected government as it was taking all out measures to ensure peace, safety and prosperity by practicing the Quaid’s teachings in letter and spirit.

Says mechanism to be evolved for honourable repatriation of legal Afghan refugees

Mr Khattak said that the best way to pay homage to Quaid-i-Azam was to maintain complete unity and solidarity among our ranks by leaving aside all the petty interests. “We have to utilise all our capabilities to bring the nation at par with other developed nations of the world,” he added.

The chief minister said that due to the ill-conceived policies in the past, the country faced a very critical and challenging situation.

He added that though the provincial government was making all possible efforts for the restoration of lasting peace in the region but it was not possible until and unless their geographical borders were duly secured and foreign policy revisited as per national interests.

Mr Khattak expressed the hope that the federal government in the light of the recommendations of the APC in Peshawar and as per the aspirations of the nation would take bold steps to secure the country and nation in all respects.

The chief minister said that the Peshawar school incident awakened the entire nation and stirred conscience of the world community to understand real problem of Pakistani nation in respect of terrorism.

He said the presence of millions of Afghan refugees on their soil was main reason of persistent occurrences of terrorism, unrest and crimes.

They were not only used by miscreants as the facilitators for such misdeeds but they had also increased pressure on the feeble economy and meagre available resources, he added.

Mr Khattak said that government both at provincial and central level would take steps to immediately expel all the illegal Afghan Refugees.

Modus operandi would be devised for honourable repatriation of legal Afghan refugees staying there as soon as possible.

He appealed the people to demonstrate complete unity in their ranks so that Pakistan could be turned into a real welfare, democratic, peaceful and developed country as per vision of Quiad-i-Azam.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2014