JEDDAH — On the 44th anniversary of the fall of Dhaka, Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a symposium in Mehran restaurant titled "Repatriation of stranded Pakistanis — our national obligation." It was presided over by renowned scholar and ex-diplomat Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi. Other guests and speakers included literary personalities Mohammad Ashfaque Badayouni; Naushad Usman; Choudhry Riaz Ghumman of Kashmir Committee; Aziz Ahmed; Khalid Jawed of Pakistan Engineers Society; Shamsuddin Altaf of Pakistan Peoples Community; Syed Mohsin Alavi, Syed Ghazanfar Hassan; Syed Naseeruddin and Syed Qamar Shah of Engineers Welfare Forum, Zamurrad Khan Saifi of Pakistan Writers Forum; Media personality Choudhry Rizwan Rasheed. Al-Ghamdi said, "The fall of Dhaka was not only a sad event for Pakistan but for the whole Muslim world. The prisoners of war were brought home soon but those who stood by the army to safeguard Pakistan's integrity and solidarity are languishing in camps for over 44 years for their loyalty to Pakistan is an unending tragedy. He reminded Pakistanis about Quaid e Azam's message that without sacrifice of Muslims of Bihar, Pakistan would never have been created. So don't let those patriotic Pakistanis live in camps." "I want to address Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who became prime minister for the third time by Allah's enormous kindness. Now he should take urgent action for their repatriation and rehabilitation in allocated land in Punjab as per Rabita Trust mandate. In this regard I appeal to MWL, OIC, IDB to extend financial help to Pakistan to execute the project," Al-Ghamdi said. He appealed to Pakistan's judiciary to take suo moto notice for those people who are denied basic rights of Pakistani citizenship, which they were holding at the time of surrender and never gave up while never accepting Bangladeshi citizenship, so by all legitimacy they are Pakistanis. He also urged the Bangladeshi government to extend basic facilities e.g. food, housing, medical, education etc. to live like human being. He declared half of the award he received from International Human Rights charter to stranded Pakistanis and another half to Al-Ghamdi Trust in Bangladesh, who are helping new Muslims. Choudhry Riaz Ghumman, of Kashmir Committee, praised Dr. Ali Ghamdi for supporting PRC's cause of Kashmir and stranded Pakistanis. He said the fall of the erstwhile East Pakistan is very painful event in which India played active role and in which, unfortunately, some of our own people also participated. He urged Nawaz Sharif to fulfill his promise to settle stranded Pakistanis which is our national obligation. He also praised army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif for boldly fighting terrorism to make Pakistan country of peace. Shamsuddin Altaf also spoke in Arabic and praised Dr. Ghamdi for calling for solutions to Kashmir and stranded Pakistanis issues. He paid tribute to those patriots who sacrificed their lives to protect the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan in 1971 war. He praised Zulfiqar Bhutto for repatriating and rehabilitating over 150,000 stranded Pakistanis in 1973 and Nawaz Sharif brought few hundred in 1993. "I hope Nawaz Sharif will urgently restart the repatriation process to end their camp life," he said. Deputy convener Hamid Islam Khan said that the surrender of army in 1971 was our greatest tragedy. It is unfortunate that those quarter million patriotic Pakistanis, who stood for a united Pakistan, are still living in pathetic condition in over 70 camps in Bangladesh. He revived PRC's mission that "Pakistan will be complete after affiliation of Kashmir and repatriation of stranded Pakistanis." Mohammad Amanatullah said with December approaching we not only feel the cold weather but are also reminded of the tragic fall of Dhaka. He said keeping patriotic Pakistanis in miserable condition in Bangladesh is also a serious tragedy. Editor of MWL magazine Abu Ammar advised PRC to approach international media channels to draw the attention of international organizations e.g. UNHCR to help in alleviating their miseries. Convener Ehsanul Haque thanked Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi and all the speakers, poets and journalists for participating in the symposium. He said that we debate a lot about reason of fall of Dhaka but we totally ignore the victims of this debacle i.e. patriotic Pakistanis persecuted in Bangladesh. He said Urdu-speaking Pakistanis were declared traitors of Bangladesh and many of the young men were killed and the rest were thrown into the camps built by Red Cross in which they are passing their days in miseries without any basic facilities. He also criticized the hanging of veterans without fair trial. Those sided with Pakistan in 1971 war, which was their true loyalty, cannot be considered traitors to Bangladesh, which did not exist in 1971. Mussarat Khalil conducted the symposium, which began with the recitation of verses from Holy Qur'an by Qari Abdul Majeed. Naat was presented by Syed Mohsin Alavi. Mussarat Khalil also presented Dr. Anisul Haque's poem on martyrs of East Pakistan and plight of stranded Pakistanis.
