PESHAWAR: Minister for SAFRON Shehryar Afridi Friday said Pakistan would celebrate the year 2019 as 40 years of hospitality of Afghan refugees.
Addressing participants at Afghan refugee camp here, minister said that Pakistan was the only country which has integrated refugees with the mainstream population.
Sheryar Afridi stated that Pakistan was the biggest host country of refugees in an era where developed nations are refusing to even accept a single boat of migrants while Pakistan is hosting millions of refugees, he said.
Unfortunately, past regimes did not raise the Afghan refugee’s issue but PTI government would address all issues being faced by the Afghan refugees, Afridi maintained.
He said that the relationship between Afghan refugees and Pakistani nation was unprecedented, despite economic crunch and security threats, Pakistan has shared its bread and butter with their Afghan brothers.
The Minister said he visited the camp on the directive of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “We have shared culture and history, we are hosting 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and 0.84 million are ACC card holders.
Speaking on the occasion an Afghan leader Haibat Shah said that it’s an irony that we are refugees in Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan and not being accepted back in Afghanistan. He said we have an identity crisis and are aliens everywhere.
