RECENTLY, Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to grant citizenship to Afghan and Bengali nationals who have been living in Pakistan for more than four decades. The idea behind this, he claimed, was to keep them away from criminal activities and provide them with some job opportunities.

Unfortunately, the prime minister did not consult the people or government of Sindh. This province is home to more than three million Bengalis and over 1.5 million Afghans. Sindh has always welcomed refugees but now the province is overburdened with illegal immigrants.

The province has been struggling with poverty, the challenges of unemployment and other issues — so how can the federal government just grant citizenship to these people?

Furthermore, issuing citizenship to refugees will largely alter the political scenario of the province i.e. the people of Sindh would become a minority. Prime Minister Khan should learn from the Gulf which does not issue citizenship to immigrants because Arabs would never want to be a minority in their homeland.

If Mr Khan is serious about this then he should come up with a strategy to settle the Afghans and Bengalis in other provinces as well. Sindh alone cannot bear the burden.

Aasim Aslam Abbasi

Moro, Sindh

Published in Dawn, October 4th , 2018