A humanitarian crisis

The world is currently awash with humanitarian crises, with the refugee flow into Europe from the Maghrib and the Levant, the maritime graveyard that is the Mediterranean Sea and the vast pool of displaced people in Turkey — but the plight of Afghan refugees in Pakistan rarely merits a mention. There are nearly 1.6 million registered and one million unregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan according to the UNHCR, figures widely regarded as reliable. Many of them are now second generation, born and educated in Pakistan, their families intermarried with others of their ilk. Many have never visited their home country — and many have no desire to do so either. Many view the possibility of return, repatriation, with horror and are strongly disinclined to leave.

For Pakistan, which welcomed the first wave of refugees with open arms, they are a drain on scarce resources and — a minority — a potential terrorist threat as they align with some of the Taliban groups operating on both sides of the border. The government of Pakistan is of the view that the security situation in Afghanistan is sufficiently stabilised for the Afghans to return, and has encouraged many to do just that, but with over 2.5 million still here, most of whom disagree with that position, hard decisions have to be made.



The government has now granted, somewhat belatedly, Afghan refugees an additional six months to stay in Pakistan. It is hoped that the Afghan authorities and the UN will be able to set up relocation camps in that time and that the outflow can continue. The Afghan government had asked for an extra two years. They got six months. Admittedly the matter is complex and does not just involve refugees only — trade, transit and India are in the mix — but it cannot be forever deferred. The government in Kabul is fragile, resource-poor and with a writ that covers less than half the country, the Taliban holding the rest. Afghan refugees in Pakistan continue to constitute one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises — but the world’s interest in matters Afghan is diverted, likewise financial support. Resolved by December 30? We doubt it.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.

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