Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been urged to bring home thousands of nationals from camps in Bangladesh.
The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC), which organized a symposium here to mark the 15th anniversary of nuclear tests by Pakistan, issued the proposal among a number of other resolutions adopted at their meeting.
The PRC urged President Asif Zardari and Sharif to reactivate the Rabita Trust and restart the repatriation and rehabilitation of thousands of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. These people have been living in wretched conditions in Bangladesh camps since 1971, the PRC stated.
The meeting praised the establishment of the Nawa-i-Waqt Fund for stranded Pakistanis noting that 100 million rupees had been raised over 10 years to help alleviate the misery of the stranded people.
The meeting urged charitable organizations such as the Edhi Trust, Jamaat-e-Islami, MQM, Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties to help the Pakistanis.
The meeting also adopted a number of resolutions calling for the establishment of a nuclear research university headed by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. The university should carry out research to set up nuclear plants to produce electricity.
Pakistan detonated nuclear devices on May 28, 1998, in response to India’s nuclear tests on a day called Youm-e-Takbeer.
The meeting also adopted resolutions calling for a referendum to be held in India-held Kashmir under the auspices of the United Nations.
It urged the United Nations, the US and other countries to force India to ensure these polls take place.
Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, a renowned writer, said that May 28 was not only a day of pride for Pakistanis but for the entire Muslim world because it had acquired a nuclear deterrence in the region.
“We remember then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement that it was an issue of life and death for the nation, and he had to suffer for taking that decision. However, people gave him the mandate again and it is time to solve the pressing issue faced by the country.
Shamsuddin Altaf said that although Pakistan has a nuclear capability for defense purposes, it has failed to use its technology for the good of the people.
Tayyab Mosani, general secretary of the Memon Association, said there was a need to counter terrorism, illiteracy and poverty in Pakistan.
Ehsanul Haque, convener, thanked guests for attending the event. He praised successive leaders for supporting Khan’s mission to secure nuclear technology for the country.
“However, over the past four decades we have failed to use the same team’s talent to explore nuclear technology for the generation of electricity, increasing agricultural production and medicine for the common people,” he said.
He also hoped the Rabita Trust would be reactivated and stranded Pakistanis repatriated on a priority basis.
Other community members Shaikh Mohammad Luqman, Mohammad Ashfaque Badayouni, Mohammad Nawaz Janjua of Pakistan Welfare Society, Syed Musarrat Khalil, and Syed Shahabuddin also spoke.
The program was conducted by Abdul Qayyum, secretary general of the PRC. Poets Athar Abbasi and Abdul Qayyum Wasiq paid tribute to various leaders and scientists for their achievements on Youm-e-Takbeer.
Source: Arab News
