Due to safe havens available across the country and failed policies of the government, around five million illegal immigrants are living in Pakistan for the past three decades, including two million Bangladeshis, 2.5 million Afghans and 0.5 million other nationals like Africans, Iranians, Iraqis, and Mayanmars, the National Assembly was informed on Friday.
In a written response to a question by PML-N’s MNA Tahira Aurangzeb, Interior Minister Rehman Malik admitted that due to safe havens available in Pakistan, partition of Pakistan in 1971, Afghan war of the 1980s, poor law and order in Iraq, the illegal immigrants were living in the country.
The minister, however, outlined a 10-point strategy to deal with the illegal immigrants, but did not inform parliamentarians how many people had been repatriated to their respective countries.
Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said in a written reply that one million tonne of urea was being imported by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and the subsidy to be paid by the federal government on this count was estimated at Rs 33 billion. To another question, the finance minister said Rs 10,984.2 billion of foreign and domestic loans were outstanding against Pakistan.
He said the government was trying to decrease the debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to 58 percent by the end of this fiscal year and for the purpose, reforms in the tax collection system would be implemented to increase revenue.
The minister said the budget deficit of current financial year had been projected at 4.7 percent against 5.9 percent of GDP during 2010-11. The budget deficit for the first three months of this fiscal year amounted to 1.2 percent, against 1.6 percent during the same period last year.
The finance minister said to another query that the government had prepared a new growth strategy to accelerate the growth of gross domestic product (GDP). He said the new growth strategy focused on productivity and skill development, which would help increase the income of the people.
It also envisages reforms for various sectors of the economy to sustain high growth rate, he added.
Shaikh said the government had taken several steps to improve the income and living standard of the people.
“It is focusing on creation of decent employment opportunities and human resource development. For this purpose, National Vocational and Technical Education Commission has been set up besides the strength of lady health workers has also been doubled. Under the Benazir Income Support Programme, cash grant of one thousand rupees was being disbursed monthly to deserving families,” he said.
The minister said the government had increased salaries of employees by hundred percent in the last three years. As a result of these steps, per capita income of the people had risen to $1,254.
To a question, the finance minister said two billion rupees had been allocated in the current budget for the provision of 10,000 tractors to eligible farmers at subsidised rates.
