KARACHI - Prime Minister Imran Khan has made an unprecedented announcement in the history of Pakistan.
He has announced that Pakistan-born refugees of Afghan and Bangladeshi origins will be provided nationality by the government.
On his first official visit to Karachi after being elected, PM Khan said that the government will issue national identity cards and passports to those Afghan and Bangladeshi refugees who were born in Pakistan.
The PM said that these refugees had been living for more than 40 years and were not granted identity cards and passports. PM Khan continued saying that around the world people were granted nationality. “If you are born in America, you will be given nationality.”
He said it was cruelty to these people in not giving them citizenship. He remarked that even the children of the refugees who were born in Pakistan were not given citizenship. “These people are human and they have been deprived of citizenship.”