During the meeting with Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. the Pakistani Premier Mr Nawaz Sharif assured our PM that plans were afoot to take back the stranded Pakistanis who are waiting to be repatriated for the last two decades, we welcome the assurances of the Pakistani PM hut cannot fail to express our concern at the expression "gradually" used by him. Time and again we heard of resolutions and plans. Successive Pakistani leaders made pledges after pledges to take back their citizens from Bangladesh where they have been forced to live against their will ever since the birth of Bangladesh. But Seldom have we seen any real move towards solving this great human tragedy. Mr Sharif, when he was the leader of the opposition and the Chief Minister of the Punlab province, declared that he would work for the resettlement of the stranded Pakistanis in his province as resell lenient in Sindh was becoming difficult. Now Mi Sharif is in the driving seat. We see no reason why he cannot make good his promise But his use of the word "gradually" has surprised us a bit What does the Pakistani Prime Minister mean hv the use of that qualifier for the process of repatriation?

Twenty years is a long time in anybody's life. We had stated in our previous editorials that most of the stranded I akistanis have wasted the prime of their life watting to go to the land of their choice. The youngmen of twenty of today were the unborn children of their parents when they decided to opt lot Pakistan. These people have a right to settle In their own country. Now If after all these years we are told the repatriation will take place "gradually". the question that naturally comes to everybody s mind is "how long is gradual ?" Since definite pledges have taken more than twenty years to materialise, the pledge for "gradual repatriation may take — who knows how long All arrangements for the logistics of repatriation is at hand. The international community has also made th necessary finances available to pay for its cost What is now waited is Pakistan's definite decision to make good the promise they made to their own people, to the world and of course to Bangladesh.

This question of the right of the stranded Pakistanis becomes more urgent in view of the fact that twenty years have past since these people were promised to be taken back to tnelr country. For twenty years they have been living in camps and counting days for reunion with their families. And for twenty years Pakistan has dragged its feet on the matter. The international community has never been given any satisfactory answer as to the delay tn implementing this promise.

Whatever may have been the reasons in the past, it is now time that steps be taken to end the suffering of these innocent victims of an historical development The stranded Pakistanis have been made to live is Stateless people even though they very much have a State to call their own. The Prime Minister of Pakistan should now set a definite time-frame for repatriation. •