Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Friday said his government will not force any undocumented Afghans to leave Pakistan unless they choose to do so voluntarily.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said the provincial government would facilitate any Afghans who wish to return to their homeland. The federal Interior Ministry had set a March 31 deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave voluntarily or risk deportations. Despite multiple calls for an extension, the government has not shifted its stance, with reports of mass deportations planned from both Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the coming days.
During his press interaction, Gandapur maintained that sustainable peace requires stability in Afghanistan. Claiming the resurgence of terrorism was a result of Islamabad’s “flawed policies,” he said restoring peace in the Pak-Afghan border areas required dialogue.
Criticizing the government for its “fundamentally flawed” policy regarding Afghan refugees, he offered various other reasons for the current wave of terrorism, from international interests seeking access to the region’s mineral resources, to the ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ prophecy.
Unpaid dues
During his speech, the chief minister reiterated his demand for the federal government to release funds owed to his province under the National Finance Commission by April 30, warning that he would otherwise lead a march on Islamabad with the entire provincial machinery.
Claiming the center—which was controlled by his own PTI for three-and-a-half years—had yet to pay KP for additional funds owed to it following its merger with the erstwhile tribal areas, he said that if the funds remained pending, he would lead “the people of the province, its police, and the administration” in protest. Similarly, he claimed, the federal government owed around Rs. 75 billion to the provincial government under the Accelerated Implementation Program.