ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Monday said that foreigners including Afghan citizens could not stay in Pakistan indefinitely without a visa.

Talking to “Hum News” the minister said that some foreign countries had criticized Pakistan for sending illegal immigrants back to their countries. “There are about 20,000 Afghans in Pakistan who worked with the US coalition forces,” Murtaza Solangi said.

The minister said that the Taliban government was established in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, but the US and its allies were not yet able to shift these 20 thousand Afghans to their own countries.

He said that everyone knew the treatment of illegal immigrants across the world. When illegal immigrants were drowning in Greece, no one came to save them, Murtaza Solangi recalled.

Pakistan’s record about illegal residents was very good as compared to other countries of the world, Murtaza Solangi opined.

The minister said that millions of Afghan citizens legally present in Pakistan had access to all facilities including health, education and business activities.

About the foreigners who do not have documents or visas, he said “we only asked them to go back to their countries”. The minister said that Pakistan will have to decide how long foreigners could stay inside Pakistan.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 19 2023

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