Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister proposes permanent residence for Afghan refugees

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has proposed that Afghan refugees be granted permanent residence in Pakistan.

This comes as the Pakistani government is deporting Afghan refugees citing security concerns.

There are currently 2.1 million registered Afghan migrants in Pakistan, more than half of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that attacks in the country are planned on Afghan soil and that Afghan citizens have been involved in a number of attacks. The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the claim, saying Afghanistan is not responsible for Pakistan’s “security failure”.

While the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has called for permanent residence for Afghan refugees, its governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, has criticized the statement as “absurd.”

Kundi said the current security crisis in Pakistan is deeply linked to Afghanistan and 70 percent of recent attacks in Pakistan have been planned on Afghan soil.

He also claimed that weapons left over from foreign forces in Afghanistan are now being used against Pakistan, a claim the Islamic Emirate has previously denied.