The stay and “unfettered” mobility of Afghan refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is a major source of criminal activities and the worsening law and order situation in the restive province, said KP Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Khattak on Tuesday during a high-level meeting at CM’s Secretariat, Peshawar.
KP Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, KP information secretary, KP special home secretary and commissioner Afghan refugees also attended the meeting.
The CM called upon the federal government to realise its role in repatriating Afghan refugees and confining them to camps outside KP. He said that the federal government should prepare a roadmap for the rapid repatriation of refugees to their homeland.
“We admit that law and order situation in KP is the our responsibility but the federal government should also try to remove all the obstacles hindering better law and order situation in the province,” said the CM.
The Afghan refugees are a problem inherited by the KP government inherited and “we all need to be on one page to find a suitable solution to this problem”, said Khattak.
“We are in a state of war and the Afghan refugees are a burden on the health sector and provincial infrastructure,” said Khattak. He demanded the deployment of Frontier Constabulary at the border of settled and tribal areas in the country’s north-west.
Later, he also talked to a delegation of Nowshera Press Club (NPC) headed by Mushtaq Paracha. The CM also took oath from the new cabinet of the club.