ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Tuesday that the status of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDP) living in the country had been changed to economic migrants.
Responding to a call to attention notice, Parliamentary Finance Secretary Rana Muhammad Afzal informed the House that after December 31, 2016, the TDP status of displaced persons had been discontinued and that they would now be considered as economic migrants.
Rana Afzal also said that the upcoming census in the country was being conducted according to international rules and that the remaining TDPs would be registered where they were presently living.
States and Frontier Regions Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch said that 80 per cent of the TDPs had been repatriated and the remaining 20 per cent would be repatriated by April 30 of the current year.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) member Shireen Mazari took to the floor of the house, criticising the government by claiming that there was no foreign policy in place and questioning how they would end terrorism from the country without any policy.
She further stated that terrorism would not be end by closing crossing points, adding that the defence minister had lied to the house about the closure of the border with Afghanistan. Quoting the statement of the defence minister about India sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, she also questioned as to why the border with India at Wagah had not been closed. She also opined that Islamabad should resolve its issues with Kabul through dialogue.
Mazari further invited the prime minister to come to the house and elaborate on the government’s foreign policy with India, pointing out that the defence minister spoke about Indian-sponsored terrorism while the premier talked about trade with the neighbouring country.
