Afghan, 'Bengali' immigrants to get citizenship: Pak PM

Pakistan's new premier Imran Khan has vowed to give citizenship to some Afghan refugees and Bengali immigrants, officials confirmed yesterday, granting rights to many who have lived in the country for decades.

He announced this while addressing a fundraising event for dam construction during his first official visit to Karachi on Sunday.

Urdu-speaking Biharis, who went to Pakistan after Bangladesh's Liberation war in 1971, are considered Bengalis there.

The PM said that the identity crisis of thousands of Bengali and Afghan immigrants is pushing them to crime.

"Terrorism and target killing has declined in Karachi but there is a major reason behind the street crimes. It is an underclass. They are illiterate and jobless. They are the Bengalis and Afghans who are living in Pakistan."

"These immigrants have lived here for decades, their children were born here, but they don't have identity cards and passports," he said.

The people of this deprived class can't get jobs without ID cards and passports, so our government has decided to issue them computerised national identity cards and passports, Khan said.

There are around two million Bengali and Burmese migrants in Pakistan. They either do not possess ID cards or their cards have been revoked on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, reported Samaa TV.

In 2016 a wave of forced repatriations sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis, with Human Rights Watch issuing a scathing report describing Pakistan's "coercive" approach. It accused the government of arbitrary detentions and other violations, reported AFP.

The United Nations refugee agency welcomed Khan's announcement yesterday.