Never said 'KP belongs to Afghans': Achakzai

ISLAMABAD: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai clarified on Thursday that an Afghan newspaper had incorrectly quoted him as saying that Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province "belongs to Afghans".

In an interview, the Afghanistan Times had quoted Achakzai as saying, "If Afghans are harassed in other parts of Pakistan, they should come here to the Pakhtunkhwa province, where no one can ask them for refugee cards because it also belongs to them."

"Kabul and Islamabad should exercise extreme caution to resolve Torkham crossing conflict. Otherwise, they should leave the issue to the US and China, and they would resolve it within two weeks,” he was quoted as saying.

But, speaking to Geo News, the PkMAP leader clarified that he had been misquoted by the Afghan media.

Achakzai said that he had only stated that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was historically a part of Afghanistan. However, he claimed had never said that the province belonged to Afghans, as quoted by the Afghan daily.

He was responding to a query about the repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

Pakistan has the world's second largest refugee population, with more than 1.5 million registered, and about a million unregistered, refugees from Afghanistan, most of whom fled the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s.

Pakistan receives just $5.20 per refugee per year in international aid to provide the displaced with healthcare and education – and that is only for those who are registered.

The topic of the return of Afghan refugees has become a contentious issue in Pakistan, with some in the country calling for the deportation of the refugees who they blame for deteriorating law and order and increased cross-border smuggling of illegal drugs.

This week, Pakistan extended by six months a deadline for Afghan refugees to register with the government. The deadline was set to expire today.