Once again we have President Zardari talking about the repatriation of Afghan refugees. Of course, it goes without saying that the repercussions of the influx of the Afghan migrants in the Afghan-Soviet war continue to rock the host nation to this day. The failure to settle them back in their country by the international community and partly by our successive governments made Pakistan suffer in ways that simply beggars description. President Zardari urged the need for a roadmap for repatriating them as well as calling for effective border patrol in order to curb militancy.
One may ask what has become of the previous roadmaps chalked out not only by this dispensation but by the previous ones as well. Why were they not implemented? Given this history there is no guarantee that yet another roadmap would succeed. There is the factor of certain lobbies that have profited from the displaced Afghan community, exploiting them over the years. Naturally these forces come into play whenever any such roadmap is mulled. President Zardari’s meeting with Afghan President Karzai, however, offers some hope in that it shows that both the nations are willing to put an end to the suffering of the displaced masses. If the government is serious and if Karzai regime is also serious in pursuing the matter, there is no doubt that the resettlement work could be done easily. This is necessary for the region’s safety but mainly for Afghanistan’s future itself.