Temporary relief: Pakistan extends Afghan refugees stay for 6 months

PM orders ministers to engage UNHCR and Kabul for relocation of refugee camps to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has granted registered Afghan refugees an extra six months to remain in Pakistan as authorities stepped up efforts to work with the UN and Kabul to relocate camps to Afghanistan.

Pakistan is home to 1.6 million registered and about as many undocumented Afghan refugees, with growing insecurity in Afghanistan impeding voluntary return programmes.

“The stay of POR (Proof of Registration) card holder Afghan refugees shall be extended for a further period of six months only, till December 31, 2016,” the media wing of the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nawaz Sharif granted the extension on Wednesday after going through the ‘Repatriation and Manage­ment Policy for Afghan Refugees’.

Registered Afghan refugees will be liable to deportation after this date, but an earlier deadline was extended by six months last December and analysts say the upcoming deadline could also be put back. Unregistered refugees are also liable to deportation, but their repatriation is likely to take years.

The prime minister also directed his cabinet ministers for foreign affairs and states & frontier regions to engage the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Afghanistan government for the ‘gradual relocation’ of refugee camps from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

“In order to facilitate relocation and as a gesture of continued goodwill, Pakistan shall commit provision of wheat for the relocated camps in Afghanistan for a period of three years, free of cost,” reads the statement.

Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed earlier this year to document hundreds of thousands of unregistered Afghan refugees, but the documentation process was delayed due to strain in their bilateral relations.

Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Dr Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said the extension has been granted till there was a formal cabinet decision on the matter which was expected within the next six months.

The PoR cards expired on December 31, 2015, but the government extended it until June 30. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Zakhilwal said the extension in refugees’ stay would provide an opportunity for Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the international community to hold negotiations about the repatriation of refugees.

The Afghan ambassador also met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and de facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz in Islamabad and raised the issue of alleged ‘harassment’ of Afghan refugees by police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

“My discussions with Ishaq Dar were focused on trade and transit that include Afghanistan’s quest for permission to Afghan traders to transport goods to the Indian border city of Attari through Wagah border,” he said.

Iftar dinner

Zakhilwal also hosted senior Pakhtun political leaders and sought their help to lower Pak-Afghan tension. “It was an Iftar dinner to begin with, but inevitably we discussed how they [Pakhtun leaders] could be instrumental in mending bilateral trust and relations,” he told The Express Tribune. Attendees at the Iftar dinner included Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Aftab Sherpao, Afrasaiab Khattak and Ayaz Wazir.

UNHCR doubles grant

The UNHCR, meanwhile, increased assistance package for the registered Afghan refugee families opting to return to Afghanistan under the agency-facilitated voluntary return programme.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the announcement as he concluded his first tri-nation visit to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, the UNHCR said in a statement on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2016.