‘Honour and dignity’
Once again we have reached an understanding, of sorts, with the Afghans about the matter of the refugees. The goodwill has not been easy to reclaim considering how much bitterness this issue caused not too long ago. And since the overall Islamabad-Kabul climate has been more autumn than spring for a while now, the refugees – on top of increasing violence on both sides – only worsened the atmosphere. But now that Abdullah Abdullah and our Safron Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch have promised to restore ‘honour and dignity’ to the equation, there’s no reason this episode cannot be made to end amicably.
Kabul’s appreciation for the four decades we hosted their refugees seems, on the surface, to factor in the fact that Pakistan has been one of the world’s best refugee hosts in this time. Others, mostly those hosting Palestinians, have kept their ‘guests’ in refugee camps for decades. Yet others, even less tolerant, have made sure those that came and were looked after were also promptly returned. We, on the other hand, absorbed the Afghans, naturalised them, and also issued a number of them ID cards and passports. Now, though, that the burden is just too much for a Pakistan itself tearing at the seams, this matter must, once and for all, be wrapped up.
Also, for all the Afghans promises, they have dilly-dallied on this issue for very, very long. For some reason they do not tend to follow refugee talks with any sort of meaningful action. Hopefully this time, with Kabul now aware of the sentiments that will rage across Pakistan if this matter lingers, the Afghans will be more forthcoming. There is, as was agreed in Brussels the other day, no reason this matter cannot be handled with civility. But the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. And only the coming days will tell if this pendulum will swing any different this time.
