THE announcement to grant citizenship to Bengalis living in Pakistan after the 1971 separation of East Pakistan has been received with a lot of hue and cry. Surprisingly the MQM leadership has not said a single word in its favour.

According to official statistics an estimated 7.6 million Pakistanis live abroad. The largest number around four million are in the Middle-East. There are 1.2 million in the UK, and about 700,000 in the US. Many Pakistanis living in the UK and the US and other Western countries have dual nationality.

I feel that denying nationality to the Bengali community living in Pakistan for the last 47 years was a serious human rights violation. They are patriotic citizens, and now that they have been recognised as such so they will contribute all the more to this beautiful country.

Hats off to the prime minister, for his magnanimous gesture. Another unresolved issue is the nearly 300,000 Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh. They await his attention.

Prof Muhammad Iqbal
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2018