KARACHI: The Sindh Civil Society on Thursday expressed its concern over the events planned by the ‘Aurat March’ against federal government’s decision to repatriate illegal foreigners, especially Afghan refugees.

A press statement signed by many rights activists, including Anis Haroon, retired Justice Majida Razvi, Amar Sindhu, Ali Palh and others, noted that people of Sindh had been showing their genuine concern over the impact of demography as a result of an unchecked influx of illegal immigrants into Karachi. “In Sindh, we’ve been talking about the issue of illegal immigrants, including Afghans, Burmese and Bengalis living in Karachi,” it said, adding that some Afghans had legal identity cards “but many others had gotten fake Pakistani resident cards with the help of corrupt government officials and this was a big problem for us”.

The statement questioned: “How long Sindh would bear the burden of illegal immigrants when it owns 37 per cent of the rural population [that] lives below the poverty line”?

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2023