PESHAWAR - Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) Chairman, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Wednesday urged the Federal Government not to revoke the refugee status of Afghan refugees till complete restoration of peace in the region.
The government must revisit its decision on humanitarian basis, as sending Afghan refugees back to their war-shattered country without having a solid police and peace would be an inappropriate decision, he opined.
Sherpao maintained that innocent Afghans had been suffering a lot for the last three decades. Pakistan has also sacrificed a lot for them, so any decision regarding abolishing their refugee status would not be a wise decision. He asked the government of Pakistan to review its policy and wait until peace restored to the region.
He said that they were the victims of international politics, who had lost everything in the conflict that had started in 1979. The PPP-S leader feared that repatriating the refugees would create a new crisis for Afghanistan that was already fighting an insurgency.
He said that Afghanistan economy was entirely dependent on the western countries and the illegal drug trade. He warned that this step might further deteriorate the already fragile relations between the two governments.
He said that such a huge influx would create tremendous problems for the international community and the Afghan government, as they had no strategy to cope with it. “Besides, it may also putPakistan at odds with the United Nations and other international partners which will not be good for us, as our own people are residing in camps,” he warned.
He said that there were 1.7 million Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan - more than half of them under 18 - of whom 630,000 live in camps and their repatriation might be resulted in a humanitarian disaster.  He said that Afghanistan is Pakistan’s brother Islamic neighboruing country, they need to cooperate with each other at this critical stage, he concluded.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed acting vice chancellor of the Islamia College University (ICU), Prof Dr Noor Jehan has said that he will bring reforms to make the ICU one of the best institute of the country.
After assuming the charge of vice chancellor, Dr Noor Jehan chaired a meeting of the deans of faculties, chairpersons and principals of the constituent colleges of the university. The participants of the meeting assured her of their cooperation.
The Higher Education Department has issued a notification of appointing her as a new vice-chancellor of the ICU. She is the first female doctor of the country whose more than 26 articles were published in the national and international publications.
The Islamia College University has been facing problems since the kidnapping of its first ever vice chancellor (VC) Ajmal Khan in September 2010. He is still in the captivity of kidnappers, while his tenure as VC was expired in June last.