Pakistan, Turkey mull ways to control illegal migration

KARACHI – Anadolu Agency

Turkey and Pakistan discussed on Feb. 18 ways to deal with the refugee crisis, as well as the influx of irregular migrants from neighboring states - challenges facing both the governments.

Turkey’s Deputy Interior Minister İsmail Çataklı met Pakistan’s Interior Minister retired Brig. Ijaz Shah in the capital Islamabad along with a four-member delegation, a statement by the Interior Ministry said.

Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Mustafa İhsan Yurdakul was also present in the meeting.

Çataklı said that as the two brotherly nations faced similar issues, it was easier to expand cooperation between the governments, and enhance people-to-people contacts.

Ankara could learn from Islamabad in handling the matters in question, he added.

Shah, for his part, said his ministry had devised a system to keep a check on illegal migrants, which was “successfully working.”

Turkey and Pakistan are home to the world’s largest refugee population in the world. While the transcontinental country hosts over 3.6 million Syrian refugees, about 3 million Afghans live in the South Asian nation.

U.N. General-Secretary Antonio Guterres on Feb. 17 urged the world to support Pakistan in its efforts to shelter Afghan refugees. He made the remarks during a two-day U.N. conference held in Islamabad.