ISLAMABAD: Members of parliament and the United Nation Human Rights Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have denied media reports of 1.7 million Afghan refugees being expelled from Pakistan by the end of this year.
Talking to Voice of America (VOA), spokesperson for UNHCR Aslam Khan, while terming the reports as baseless, said that Pakistan had no intention to oust Afghan refugees living in Pakistan by the end of 2012.
He said that Pakistan was bound to fulfill its obligation, adding that Afghan refugees possessing registration cards would not be displaced by force until they were ready to go back to Afghanistan voluntarily.
He said the war-torn country of Afghanistan was not in a position to take the burden of 1.7 million Afghan refugees at this stage.
Federal Minister for States and Frontier Region Engineer Shaukatullah also said that all registered and non-registered Afghan refugees willing to go back to their homes voluntarily, would be repatriated by the end of this year.
"All registered Afghan refugees who are voluntarily desirous will be allowed to go back to their homes in Afghanistan," he said.
ANP Senator Afrasiyab Khan Khattak has said that Afghan refugees are a burden on Pakistan in view of the present economic situation, but he will not support their forced expulsion from the country as they are living in Pakistan due to certain compulsions.
He warned that forced expulsion of Afghan refugees may affect bilateral relations between the two countries, adding that both governments should evolve a joint strategy for the return of Afghan refugees so that it may be sustainable.
Spokesperson UNHCR in Pakistan Dunya Aslam Khan, sharing her views, said the return of Afghan refugees should be voluntary, but added that illegal immigrants may be expelled.
She said that UNHCR had contacted government officials to verify media reports, adding that Pakistan had made a commitment to the UNHCR country director that no recognized Afghan refugee would be deported from Pakistan.
According to Pakistani officials, about one million Afghans are living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) without valid documents.
At least one million non-registered Afghan refugees presently living in Pakistan are reportedly being sent back by force, hence, the UNCHR official said that non-registered Afghan refugees should register themselves.
COMMENTS (31)
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@waliur rahman: it better to check before submitting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AhmadShahDurrani
@waliur rahman: Whether or not you need it, its there on the table. As to the historical role of Ahmed Shah in what comprises the Pakistani Punjab and other areas of northern India, I give to you the immortal verses of Baba Bulleh Shah R.A. (Khada Peeta wahi da, baki Ahmed Shahi da)
@hedgefunder: i checked and i found that :
"Abdali's father, Mohammed Zaman Khan, was a governor of Herat province and a chief of the Abdalis of Herat. Abdali was born as Ahmad Khan between 1722 and 1723 in either Multan, Mughal India:"
multan in pakistan. and there are more pahktuns in pakistan than in afghanistan. so why will i need rudyard kipling birth as an example???
@waliur rahman: Rudyard Kipling was also born in India.
@waliur rahman: you need to check your history, Ahmed Shah Abdali was not born in Multan but in Herat, perhaps this is another flawed History that has been taught in Pakistan !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AhmadShahDurrani
@Rehmat: if european countries can become united then why we muslims are not becoming one ???????????
Because you simplydo not have the same mindset ! Infact you are too choosy and selective as to those you affliate with and even then that is solely dependant on needs and benefits !
i have never seen more ungrateful people than afghans. its better to depart them and seal the durand line. there should be hard border control between afghanistan and pakistan. iran keeps itself safe this way. we should follow them. these afghans love indians so much then why not they go to india??? and by the way ahmad shah abdali was born in multan ,so he is a pakistani pahktuns. we don't need afghans in any case, but they need us in every step of their life.
The play is not let them go home, which keeps Pakistan under socials, economical, politician pressure, and the more Pakistan in unbalance, more easy for them to handle on their way to serve their intrests, now is Pakistan and our afghan brothers are suffering, they least bother about it. Human misery does not effect on their ethic as long as it serve their intrest and purpose. love you all. Afghan governament must use current international support to habitat them on their native places, Afterall they deserive some respect as human.
@son Of Soil
You can't blame afgahnistan govt action on average afghanistani, look what our govt and establishment have done in our name, these guys are in need, it is our moral duty as humans to help them.
@Kaleem: Your country fomented rebellion in Afghanistan, manufactured a terrible militia that ravaged the country, played dirty games that have robbed Afghans of their future. So, your country deserves both the refugees and the attendant drug and gun problems. Please remember Mard-e-Momin Jarnail Zia sahib whenever you get a little hot under the collar about this mess.
AOA all ! I am an Afghan refugee in Islamabad, living in here for more than 16 years and in short word i have spent more of my life in here. I have experienced many things while living in Pakistan and some of them are : We have faced very rude behavior from Police of Pakistan but in its reply we have gotten the love of brotherhood from its citizens. As all Pakistani are not the same, we have the same case so i may accept that many of Afghans are involved in illegal works so we may not blame all of them. European citizens are not using visas in their passport while traveling but why we Asian countries are always blaming each others and trying to build walls in our borders???????? We select our politicians(both countries) and in its reply the only thing we get is to become the enemy of our muslim brother , inflation and many other things so why they always try to separate body from soul kaz now Pakistanis and Afghans have became the same. if european countries can become united then why we muslims are not becoming one ??????????? in Quran and Hadith we are strongly ordered to become one but we all are always blaming each other. correct my grammatical mistakes if u find it plz and thnx in advance.
i am an Afghan refugee. before 30 years i emigrated to pakistan. we spent very good time in pakistan. we all refugees are so thankful of pakistani peoples. Afghanistan and Pakistan are muslim countries. pakistani and Afghani nation cant separate. pakistan took us as refugees for 30 years, now pakistan should not loose this 30 years hostage to expell afghan refugees by force. i request to high level ministers of pakistan to hel afghan refugees to live in pakistan untill complete peace and stability comes in Afghanistan. i am so thankful of Afrsiyaf khattack and Aftab sherfow that they said that Afghan refugees should expil; by force from pakistan to Afghanistan. i request to pakistan peoples that what is the burden because of us on yours? why you every one want to go back to Afghanistan? please remember that Afghan refugees spend so good time with you in pakistan. i also request to UNHCR that please discuss with pakistani high level ministers about afghan refugees for extend the POP cards for more years.once again i request to pakistani peoples that please a little more take burden about us . the time will come that we will go back and we both countries will spend good time and we will not forget your hopitility for centuries .
@Domlurian:
FYI, Pakistan's missiles are not named after Afghans (Afghanistan did not exist then). They are named after Central Asian Muslim warriors who laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire in India. Ghauri is buried in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
@Domlurian:
You host them then. We have been hosting them for over 30 years. Also, the actual number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is now close to 10 million. Do you think the 3 million who came in the 1980s didn't have childredn. Do the maths. Pakistan cannot afford such hospitality any longer.
What happened to Brother Muslimhood here ? I suppose Islam encourages this type of behaviour against the believers too, when it suits you !!!!
Funny, Pakistan's missiles are named after Afghan warriors, but they dislike Afghan refugees
Afghanistan will always be at war, with itself if not any foreign forces. Pakistan can't take the brunt of all these refugees - who reward us with drugs and gun culture - when we're already running very low on resources for our own people. About time Afghans decide to fix their own country, and while they're here they should learn to show some gratitude for being allowed to live and work here.
@salman I think we should fetch all muslims in our country, After all they are our muslim brothers. Our people doesn't have basic facilities like water, natural gas, fuel, power outages. Why do we feed them. They are afghanis, they are cutting the roots of our country.
It is disgusting.We hoisted about 3.5 million Afghan refugees and are even hoisting hundreds of thousands of Afghanis now more then 20 years after the Russians left.Afghanistan now has a government supported by wealthy countries. I want to know when will these refugees, registered and non registered leave.We have our own problems, some of which due to them and cannot afford to pull along with them as the criminal elements amongst them further complicate the already deteriorating law and order situation in the country.Why can't the UNHCR keep them in their own country or in some other countries willing to keep them.We have had enough of them.
We want our Afghan brother sisters to be our guests as long as required BUT we expect them to realise that we already have too much burden on our resources due to excessive population. Some of the refugee camps have , unfortunately, been used as breeding grounds for anti Pakistan activities. I think those minority of Afghan official who keep spreading negative propaganda about Pakistan , should take refugees back or ask their friend India to take them. Pakistan is abused and taken advantage for free. The same example is with NATO supplies, .they only realised how much it costs , once we stopped them. I think it's about time Pakistan speaks the same language as its ill wishers speak . No more NICE GUY.ets get down to business .
@Salman
how much more respect we want. Look at the history how they have behaved and how we have. Afghanistan was the only country which opposed Pakistani entry in UNO. At present when we are giving afghans refuge in our home land and in result suffering law and order and economic difficulties they are giving safe heavens to Militants in Kunar and Nouristan. when we ask them to help they simply deny. BTW these afghans depand on every thing on us. they are land lock . If we decide to play the game like they play ...well in less then a week they will know what they are.
They must realize that respect is 2 way. they are not devine that only we care and they damage us
these Pakistani politicians dont care about the tax money because they dont pay any tax.. it is the poor Pakistanis that pay the tax and it goes into the mouths of those people who hate us... if afghans want our help they need not to bite the hand that shows mercy on them..
Why should Pakistan have to house all these refugees when they don't have the resources? Pakistan has suffered enough due to the problems of Afghanistan. Why can't the Western countries accept these Afghanis since they already have thousands of Afghanis living in Western countries as refugees on state social assistance / state khayrat like in Canada where I live.
Totally agree with Afzaal Khan, they are our Muslim brothers and sisters and they need us and we should be there for them! any force exclusion is unacceptable.
@Son of Soil that is very rude and inaccurate. Learn to respect others only then others will respect you.
Dears it is time to go home, have a nice journey pleas.
Afghans should learn to respect. They try to damage the hand who feeds them.
Good news, just get them register, its our moral duty to help those who are in need. But we must get them register.
Even Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to host them for too long; Ideally they can go to US if that is an obligation(?)