ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, stressing the need to hold a national dialogue on important national matters, including politics, governance structure, and economy, said that the parliament could play a leading role in this regard to ensure a healthy and prosperous society in Pakistan.
In an interview with a digital media platform, the PM said to control inflation in the country, the government was taking concrete steps in collaboration with all provinces that would yield positive results in the coming days.
To a query, whether the caretaker government would allow all political parties to participate in general polls, the prime minister said that this was a judicial matter and if the judiciary allows the PTI chairman Imran Khan, he would definitely take part in the electoral process.
Illegal Immigrants in Pakistan
On the decision regarding the deportation of foreign citizens, the PM said this was meant only for unregistered immigrants and without legal documents or forged documents.
He said that the foreigners who had no legal documents had no moral or legal justification to reside in Pakistan.
Asked if the government had taken the United Nations (UN) or the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) in confidence on the expulsion of the illegal immigrants, including Afghans, he said in this scenario, Pakistan was the only stakeholder, and different relevant domestic bodies and departments were duly consulted.
Of the three categories of foreigners residing in Pakistan, the prime minister said 1.8 million registered Afghan nationals fall in the first category who would continue to reside in the country.
In the second category, the premier said there were illegal aliens who were not only Afghans but also from other countries. They are living in Pakistan without visas, passports, or any other legal documents.
The premier said their role was not clear whether they were criminals or engaged in other such activities as the government had no data about them.
He, however, assured that the government would not humiliate them if they left Pakistan voluntarily.
In the third category, PM Kakar said, were those people who kept fake documents and had illegally become part of the local family trees. The government will scrutinize and eliminate them from the system.
To another query, he said as most of the illegal immigrants belonged to Pashtun families, some might say that the government was deliberately targeting them. However, the PM assured that not a single Pashtun Pakistani national would be mistreated and their basic citizenry rights would not be compromised in any event.
For those in the third category, the PM said the government would adopt many options, including taking their DNA tests.
Saudi Crown Prince’s Visit to Pakistan
Regarding any possible visit of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to Pakistan, the PM said both countries were engaged in communication regarding some projects and were very close to the deals on those projects.
He said in Saudi Arabia alone, around three trillion worth of construction activities were going to be held in the next twenty to twenty-five years, and there was a potential of sending around two million Pakistanis to the kingdom. In this regard, the prime minister said the government was holding special meetings to provide the relevant skills to the youth. He informed that the potential meeting on this matter would be held later this week.
PM on Energy
The prime minister said that Pakistan was an energy-deficient nation and was using very expensive energy sources. To reduce expensive energy’s burden, the government was actively engaged with Turkmenistan to import gas from it. In this connection, the energy minister would attend the Energy Week in Turkmenistan in the next couple of weeks, he informed.
