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EVICTION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE: JILLANI Saturday, 7 october, 2023 I 20 Rabi ul awal, 1445
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Says whenever there is any problem, people immigrate to Pakistan
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Rs 15.00 | Vol XIV No 96 I 8 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Notes it has been 40 years now and situation in Afghanistan has stabilised
Kabul must stop TTP attacks from Afghan soil on Pakistan: Durrani ISLAMABAD
Staff RepoRt
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ISLAMABAD
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NTERIM Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Thursday defended the government decision to evict all illegal immigrants, including 1.73 million Afghans, saying no other country allows illegal immigrants and the decision is in line with international practice. “So, accordingly this is in line with the international practice that we have taken this decision,” he added. “Whenever there was any problem, people would immigrate to Pakistan, take refuge in Pakistan,” Jilani said. “But now I think it has been more than 40 years, so the government of Pakistan has taken a decision,” Jilani said, noting that the situation in Afghanistan had stabilised. Earlier this week, the government gave an ultimatum to all undocumented immigrants, including Afghan nationals, to leave Pakistan by October 31, or risk imprisonment and deportation to their respective countries. The decision was taken in an apex committee meeting headed by Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and attended by
Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, among others. The committee also decided that movement across the border would be subject to passports and visas, while electronic Afghan identity cards (or e-tazkiras) would only be accepted until Oct 31. After the passage of the deadline, the authorities will kickstart an operation targeting illegal properties and businesses owned by immigrants or those being run in collaboration with Pakistani nationals. The move had drawn a response from Afghan authorities, with Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid terming it “unacceptable” while urging authorities to revisit the policy. Subsequently, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had stated that the crackdown on undocumented immigrants was not aimed at any particular ethnic group. At a weekly press briefing, she said the decision was aimed at “regulating illegal aliens” residing in Pakistan, irrespective of their nationality. “… Pakistan is well within the parameters of its sovereign domestic laws to act in this context,” she remarked. The FO spokesperson said the decision was not targeted at Afghan refugees. “As the situation in Afghanistan sta-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03 bilises, we believe that it is the right time to upscale international efforts to create conditions conducive to the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees with honour and dignity,” she said. She said the repatriation exercise would be undertaken in a “phased, deliberate and orderly manner”. The process would proceed depending on the number of “illegal immigrants in Pakistan and the arrangements” for their return to their respective countries. Speaking to Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV in an interview on the sidelines of a forum in Tibet, Jilani said, “No country allows illegal people to live in their country whether it is Europe, whether it is countries in Asia, in our neighbourhood.” Decades of war in Afghanistan largely ended in mid-2021 when the Taliban re-took control as US-led foreign
forces were withdrawing and a USbacked government collapsed. Jilani said Pakistan had been discussing the migrant issue with Afghanistan “for a very long time” and he called on international humanitarian agencies to help with the process. Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Tuesday some 1.73 million Afghans in Pakistan had no legal documents and the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan totalled 4.4 million. In defending the decision to expel Afghans, authorities said 14 of 24 suicide bombings this year had been carried out by Afghan nationals. A Taliban spokesman rejected that assertion. Aid officials say Afghanistan is already facing a humanitarian crisis and the forced repatriation of large numbers of people would compound dire problems.
LAHORE
Staff RepoRt
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday reiterated that thrice ousted former premier Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan on October 21 and face the law and Constitution. Speaking to the media in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif said that his party’s legal team had cleared Nawaz, who has been residing in London in self-imposed exile since 2019, to return to Pakistan. Nawaz left for London in the middle of his seven-year jail term on medical grounds. He has since been declared a proclaimed offender in the Avenfield and Al Aziza graft cases for his continuous absence from legal proceedings. Earlier today, a fresh medical report was submitted before the Lahore High Court (LHC) stating that the PML-N supremo would require “frequent follow-up investigations” for “some residual anginal symptoms” in London and Pakistan. “I want to respectfully say that you shouldn’t ask if he is coming or not, this is confirmed now,” asserted Shehbaz. The PML-N stalwart had begun his address by speaking about the 16-month tenure of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government led by his party and recalled the challenges faced during his time in the premier’s office. He referred to floods, inflation, protests and the risk of default that his government had faced. “What would have happened if Pakistan had defaulted?” he asked, outlining the “consequential impacts” of such a situation. “But God helped us avert default and I am thankful to Nawaz for standing by us,” added Shehbaz. The former premier further said that if his party chief had told “us to save our politics, I would have resigned”. Nawaz told us to take up the challenge and save the country instead, he said. He referred to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and making the country an atomic as examples of Nawaz’s contributions to the country while lamenting “painful events overturned Pakistan’s journey of growth”. Shehbaz asserted that in 2017-18 the PML-N had won the elections but the results “were changed in massive rigging and a pre-prepared model was introduced to ruin the country”. But now, the journey of prosperity will resume with Nawaz’s arrival, claimed Shehbaz, adding that the PML-N supremo will share his plan for the country’s future at Minar-e-Pakistan on October 21.
Pakistan beat Netherlands by 81 runs in World Cup opener Underscores synergy among departments
COAS vows action against spectrum of illegal activities to deny pilferage of resources, economic losses g
Special Representative for Afghanistan Asif Ali Durrani said that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been carrying out terrorist attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan, asserting that Afghan interim government must stop this process. Asif Durrani said that “the peace [the Taliban] brought to Afghanistan must also be brought to our borderlands.” “TTP fighters in Afghanistan using US weapons, should be “returned to Pakistan or neutralized,” he added while addressing a function here in Islamabad. He also strongly denied the Afghan accusation of interference in Pakistan. Addressing a function in Islamabad, Asif Ali Durrani said that the Soviet Union was not invited to Afghanistan by Pakistan, nor was the Afghan refugees invited by Pakistan itself. Asif Ali Durrani said that peace, stability, development, and prosperity in Afghanistan have to be decided by the Afghans themselves. “Pakistan or the outside world cannot provide a lasting peace and security solution in Afghanistan,” he said.
Nawaz’s homecoming on Oct 21 confirmed, says Shehbaz
for gainful effects of landmark initiatives
KARACHI
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Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir on Friday said law enforcement agencies and the government would continue efforts against a “spectrum of illegal activities with full force to deny pilferage of resources and economic losses”. The COAS passed these remarks during a meeting of the Sindh Provincial Apex Committee, with Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar in attendance. During the meeting, the COAS received briefings on several important matters, including the revised National Action Plan, operations in the riverine areas of Sindh, the security of foreign nationals working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other private projects, repatriation of illegal foreigners and foreign currency regularization measures, according to a
statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The participants further discussed the repatriation of illegal foreigners and measures for foreign currency regulation. The ISPR said the status of the Karachi Transformation Plan and initiatives under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in the province also came up during the discussion. “LEAs and other government departments will continue the enforcement actions against a spectrum of illegal activities with full force to deny pilferage of resources and economic losses that the country suffers due to these activities,” the military’s media wing quoted Gen Asim Munir as saying. He also underscored the need for “synergy among all relevant departments for gainful effects of the landmark initiatives”.
ISLAMABAD
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Pakistan began their World Cup campaign with a resounding 81-run triumph over the Netherlands on Friday, as they managed to dismiss the Dutch batters for 201 runs in their pursuit of a 287-run target. The match was played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. Haris Rauf led the wicket-taking charts with three scalps in his 10 overs, conceding 43 runs. Hasan Ali followed closely, taking two wickets for 33 runs in his seven overs, while Shaheen, Iftikhar, Nawaz, and Shadab chipped in with one wicket each. Bas de Leede was the top scorer for the Dutch side with 67 runs, while opener Vikramjit Singh contributed 52 runs. However, apart from them, none of the other batsmen managed to make a substantial impact. Earlier, Leede took four wickets as Pakistan were bowled out for 286, derailing an innings which featured half-centuries from Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan. De Leede finished with 4-62 to bring the Netherlands back into the game after Shakeel struck an attractive 52-ball 68 and Rizwan’s 75-ball 68 boosted Pakistan after they were sent in to bat. Dutch pacer Logan van Beek had out-of-form opener Fakhar Zaman caught and bowled for 12 in the fourth over. Spinner Colin Ackermann then claimed the prized wicket of skipper Babar Azam for five before Paul van Meekeren dismissed Imam-ul-Haq for 15 to leave Pakistan tottering at 38-3.
Shakeel and Rizwan — playing their first World Cup match — steadied the innings with a solid 120-run stand for the fourth wicket but three wickets fell in the space of 24 balls for 30 runs. Shakeel, who struck nine boundaries and a six, miscued a sweep off-spinner Aryan Dutt before De Leede bowled Rizwan and had Iftikhar Ahmed for nine. Rizwan hit eight boundaries. Pakistan were further lifted as Mohammad Nawaz (39) and Shadab Khan (32) added 64 for the seventh wicket but De Leede dismissed Shadab and Hasan Ali off successive deliveries. Nawaz was run out in the 47th over before Haris Rauf’s dismissal off Ackermann finished the innings in 49 overs.
Pakistan picked two frontline spinners in Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz alongside fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali. The Netherlands, the only Associate side in the World Cup, have Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, and Saqib Zulfiqar as their spin options. Pakistan team: Fakhar Zaman, Imamul Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf. The Netherlands team: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meekeren.
IHC to announce verdict on Imran’s plea against jail trial soon CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
ISLAMABAD
Staff RepoRt
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) indicated on Friday that it will announce its reserved verdict on former premier Imran Khan’s miscellaneous pleas against the appointment of the judge holding the trial for the cypher case and the state’s decision to hold proceedings inside Adiala jail within two to three days. Lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat appeared before IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on behalf of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson. The lawyer informed the court that the trial for the cypher case has commenced in prison and the next hearing is slated for October 9 (Monday) but the decision on the PTI chief’s plea against it is yet to be announced. Justice Farooq remarked that he would expedite his decision as requested by the petitioner. Not by Monday but within two to three days, he said.
It has been reported that you have raised objections at being shifted to Adiala jail, he added, directing his remarks at the petitioner’s counsel. But it was you who petitioned to be shifted to Adiala jail from Attock jail, observed Justice Farooq, asking Imran’s lawyer to clarify this contradiction. The PTI chairperson’s request for transfer was approved, remarked the judge. Why then has this debate been initiated in the press by you, asked Justice Farooq. To this, the counsel replied that no such official statement has been made before the press on behalf of the PTI chief. Justice Farooq remarked that he was surprised at reading such reports by the media. Lawyer Marwat said that the defence had expected B-Class facilities for the former premier in Adiala jail but they were not given. At this, the IHC CJ said that Barrister Latif Khosa – a senior member of Imran’s legal team – filed a petition in this regard yesterday (Thursday). The court will issue notices in this regard, added Justice Farooq.
The PTI chairperson was arrested for the second time this year on August 5, after a district and sessions court convicted him in the Toshakhana case. The three-year prison term awarded to Imran was suspended later by the IHC but it emerged that he had been sent on judicial remand in the cypher case, which pertains to a diplomatic cable from the United States that allegedly went missing from the former premier’s possession. The PTI has claimed that the cypher contained a threat from the US calling for Imran’s ouster from the Prime Minister Office. Yesterday (Thursday), Imran approached the IHC appealing to the higher court to annul the verdict issued by the trial court in the Toshakhana case as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification disqualifying him from contesting in the upcoming general elections. Imran remains incarcerated in Adiala jail and has over 150 criminal cases pending against him.