Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Monday, directed for registered Afghan refugees living in Pakistan to be allowed to open bank accounts
From now onwards, they (Afghan refugees) can participate in the formal economy of the country.” PM Khan said in a tweet posted on his social media handle. “This should have been done a long time ago,” he concluded.
Home to around 2.4 million registered and undocumented Afghans, Pakistan remains one of the largest refugee-hosting nations around the world. Some of these people fled Afghanistan as far back as the Soviet invasion of 1979.
Shortly after taking office, the prime minister had emotively announced a vow to grant citizenship to 1.5 million Afghan refugees that were born in Pakistan.
In the wake of the controversial debate it generated countrywide, especially from the opposition quarters, he later justified his remarks and said that the government would discuss the issue with all political parties before issuing a policy. Though Pakistan’ constitution enshrines the right to its citizenship to anyone born in the country after 1951, the outright hostility shown to Afghan refugees has never allowed any leader in the country to make a statement of the sort. Whether he fulfils his word, PM Khan is the first Pakistani prime minister to commit to Afghan refugees.
The UN reports estimate that as many as 1.4 million Afghans are registered as refugees in Pakistan, while around 74 per cent of them were born here.
Published in Daily Times, February 26th 2019.
