LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lashed out at the Punjab government for not allowing the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to live with their relatives in the province and compelling them to stay in camps.

PTI Punjab President Ejaz Chaudhry said many IDPs had relatives in Punjab and Sindh but they were not being allowed to move out of the camps. It was a constitutional right of every IDP to go to any part of the country being a citizen of Pakistan.

Regretting that the Punjab government was in a way suspecting the IDPs were militants, Chaudhry said all IDPs were registered and checked by armed forces before they were allowed to cross the federal area into any province.

“If the Punjab government is really serious, it should immediately welcome the IDPs in the province and issue instructions to people to treat them as their brothers and sisters,” he stressed.

PTI Punjab Secretary-General Dr Yasmin Rashid claimed the people displaced from their homes hated staying in camps and had relatives all over the country. She said it would be much comfortable if they were allowed to live with their relatives in Punjab and Sindh.

She said the Punjab government was fond of making hollow statements and not delivering on promises. She said it should offer IDPs healthcare and educational facilities in the province.

PTI Punjab Information Secretary Andleeb Abbas said the PTI would keep fighting for constitutional rights of the IDPs, whom she claimed had been made to feel unwanted and unwelcomed by the Punjab government.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2014