Pakistan

Over 100,000 Afghans return voluntarily this year

109,243 Afghans returned home this year through a voluntary return programme initiated by UNHCR.

November 01, 2010

ISLAMABAD: A total of 109,243 Afghans returned home this year through the voluntary return programme initiated by UNHCR in 2002, said a press release on Sunday.

About 3.7 million refugees have returned to Afghanistan in the past nine years, while 1.6 million registered Afghans are still living in Pakistan.

The number of returnees this year has increased by 51 per cent, when compared to the number of people that returned in 2009.

The main reason for the higher number of returns this year is that the voluntary repatriation programme had to be suspended in July last year due to precarious security situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The voluntary return process is governed by a tripartite commission agreement by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Every year the programme resumes in spring and continues until the end of October.

The repatriation programme conducted by UNHCR is the largest operation conducted by the agency anywhere in the world and will continue until 2012, according to the handout.

Mengesha Kebede, UNHCR representative in Pakistan, said, “Repatriation is one of our preferred solutions in any post-conflict situation. These returns prove that Afghans are eager to go back home if better alternatives are provided to them.”

Kebede added that UNHCR was working with government of Pakistan to help support the Afghan government in managing their population in a more efficient manner. The renewal project of Afghans and the upcoming population profiling verification survey are two of the initiatives undertaken by the Pakistani government with support from UNHCR, Kebede said.

The initiatives, he said, will enable the two countries plan development activities for Afghans who have returned and those who may not be able to return in the near future.

Dr Imran Zeb Khan, joint secretary of Ministry of States & Frontier Regions, added that the voluntary and gradual return of refugees remained the government’s top priority.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2010.