The Afghan

This refers to the article, ‘Pakistan’s unwanted problem: Afghan refugees’ (May 31) by Ayaz Amir. The writher has mentioned that Afghans are in every part of the country – from Torkham to Karachi. Then how can he demand that all of them should leave Pakistan? Are all of them terrorists and Indian agents? The majority of them are born in Pakistan and they converse well in Urdu and understand Pakistan well, perhaps much better than many Pakistanis.

The main objection to their presence is that they are a sort of burden on our land. The majority of Afghans living in Pakistan have huge businesses across the country or their relatives living in developed countries regularly send them billions of dollars as remittances. Pakistan has lost almost $1 billion in export earnings because the Afghan rugs and carpet industry has shifted from Pakistan to other parts of the world during the last 15 years. We should start thinking as humans.

Dr Raza Ullah

Islamabad