Monitoring Desk: The Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar has clarified that the crackdown announced by Pakistan is only against illegal foreigners and there is a wrong impression that it is against any ethnic group, any particular nationality, and registered Afghan refugees.
Responding to questions in an interview with Naya Daur TV conducted by a panel comprising senior journalists and anchorpersons Iftikhar Ahmed and Raza Rumi, PM Kakar stated that the state of Pakistan can not be run if anybody can enter this country without any registration, or valid travel documents, passports, visas etc. He added that as a sovereign country, Pakistan can also operate applying international laws devised for traveling and residing in any foreign country.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan for decades allowed Afghan citizens to enter Pakistan without valid traveling documents and just on the “Rahdari system—a kind of permission paper and now Pakistan has decided to withdraw this custom after a situation when thousands of Afghan citizens illegally residing in Pakistan were allegedly found guilty of huge smuggling of US currency, wheat, sugar, cooking oil and other edibles and the situation became so grave that it was causing food security crisis within Pakistan. Moreover, intellectuals, academicians, businessmen, and economists were calling this siphoning of food and currency out of Pakistan as a kind of economic terrorism launched on Pakistan.
Responding question about the food security of the country, he said that the food security of any country is a foremost ingredient for its survival and no country can compromise on its food security.
The caretaker PM also answered several political questions about the fate of forthcoming elections, claiming that certain political parties are not enjoying a level playing field, complaints of Baloch nationalists about the government’s behavior and would his government comply with the Supreme Court’s order in Faizabad dharna case?
When asked if the government had any plan for holding grand dialogue among political parties before elections, the caretaker PM was of the view that there is no political question available about whom such dialogue is needed and political parties are moving ahead for general elections thereby there is no need of such roundtable political conference.
Regarding complaints of certain political parties of not getting a level playing field, Kakar was of the view that this is very unfortunate that such an impression has always been here in Pakistan and such complaints appeared even before all previous general elections.
Answering questions regarding deprivation complained by Baloch people and the development pace of Baluchistan, he held the political cadre of Balochistan responsible if Balochistan is standing behind other provinces in the fields of social and infrastructure development and stated that some politicians opted politics of confrontation instead of doing work for the wellbeing of people, and confirmed that Balochistan has been receiving equal economic opportunities from the Federation but these opportunities haven’t been transformed in the wellbeing of citizens of Balochistan.
When asked to comment about the recent protest of Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the caretaker PM was of the view that Balochistan has grave dynamics and Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s brother Javed Mengal runs a militia that has (allegedly) remained involved in anti-state activities and in killing thousands of people.
Kakar was of the view that nobody can be allowed by the state of Pakistan to manipulate and threaten the writ of the state with armed militias. He stated that one must not rationalize such militias on the diction of categorizing militias into political groups or terrorist groups like TTP. He stated that there is no difference between TTP and BLA and violence cannot be rationalized.
Answering questions about the process of sending illegally residing foreigners to their countries of origin, Kakar categorically stated that the cabinet has ordered that the process must be well-mannered and that no harassment and ill-mannered behavior from state agencies would be tolerated. “We are sending to their countries of origin with respect and providing full support in this process”, commented caretaker PM Kakar.
