ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: A nine-member delegation of International Development Committee of House of Commons (IDCHC) on Thursday asked Pakistan to give citizenship to those Afghans who had sought refuge here 20 years ago.

The UK parliamentarians, led by Tony Baldry, forwarded the demand during a meeting with the Federal Northern Areas, Kashmir Affairs and State and Frontier Regions Minister Abbas Sarfaraz Khan.

The delegation was of the view that it was an international phenomenon that citizenship was given to the immigrants after 20 years.

They said majority of the Afghans in Pakistan were not willing to return to their country due to bad living conditions there.

The delegation assured its full cooperation in maintaining peace in Afghanistan and provision of better atmosphere for its people.

Abbas Sarfaraz said the government had no intention to provide citizenship to the refugees. He said since the influx of Afghans, the rate of crime had gone up in the country and the incidents of terrorism and bomb blasts were no the rise.

The minister said the government was setting up 37 camps in the bordering areas in the NWFP and Balochistan for those coming from Afghanistan in vulnerable condition.

He reiterated that Pakistan had closed its boarder to avoid influx of Afghans.

He said some 3.1 million Afghans had already sought refuge in different cities of the country since the Afghanistan-Russia war.

He said 72 camps had been established for Afghan refugees in Pakistan but due to insufficient food supply by the international community, they had scattered in the cities.

He appealed to the international community to increase food supply for the refugees and bring permanent peace in Afghanistan so that they could return to their homes.

He said the refugees did not want to live in miserable conditions in the camps and they were waiting for permanent peace in their country for their repatriation.

Talking about the Kashmir issue, he said Pakistan was ready to resolve the problem through dialogue but India was not ready for it.

He asked the international community to take notice of the terrorism being committed by the Indian armed forces against the Kashmiris.