A majority of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan have kept themselves unregistered due to fears that they will be forcefully repatriated, according to Afghan Refugees Organisation (ARO) Operations Director Major Farzand Ali.
“No one knows the exact figure of unregistered refugees. There is a dire need for legislation to deal with the refugees,” he said, speaking at a workshop held at the Quetta Club on Friday,
The workshop titled ‘Sensitization and Capacity Building Media’ deliberated upon the agreement inked between the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) allowing some 1.7 million Afghan refugees to continue their stay in the country until the end of 2012.
“A population verification survey under the Management and Repatriation Strategy for Afghan Refugees (MRSAR) was recently conducted in Quetta, Pishin and Qila Abdullah. We have yet to receive any feedback as to what the basic requirements of the Afghan refugees living here are,” Major Ali said. Under MRSAR, those refugees who have invested over Rs5 million in productive businesses will be allowed to continue and may be given work permits for a specific time period.
“The well-off refugees have already obtained National Identity Cards and settled in urban slums. Therefore, hardly anyone will show interest in this investment,” he added.
UNHCR Associate Protection Officer Arbab Mohammad Zahir said the MRSAR was meant to legalise refugees’ stay so they can easily earn their livelihood.
According to Major Ali, there are around 150 unfrequented routes along the border with Afghanistan where keeping a strict check on cross border movement is impossible. He maintained this was the reason that an overwhelming number of repatriated refugees kept returning to Pakistan. For instance, of the over one million refugees repatriated in 2004, a staggering 80% returned due to the deteriorating situation in their country. He stressed that Pakistan needed to adopt a realistic approach in dealing with refugees given the difficulty in repatriating them.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714129906-0/Clint-Eastwood-(1)1714129906-0-270x192.webp)
1714024018-0/ModiLara-(1)1714024018-0-270x192.webp)
afghan refugees are belong to a very hardworkers nation. they are very happy to earn halal.in the economic develoment of all sectors these afghan refugees are playing a very important role. with afghan refugees pakistan will in loss for ever. pakistan is receiving enough amount from unhcr and uno.
Deera Manana Waleed Khan
UNO works under USA and all its organs are subservient to the interests of USA and EU. It is beyond shadow of doubt, that these countries want to burden Pakistan with millions upon millions of refugees. On the other side the EU, USA and Australia does not allow few hundred refugees in their countries. It is a common knowledge that these countries had been jailing, killing and maiming these refugees. Pakistan wasn't a poor country, before the Afghan refugees under the banner of UNO started entering Pakistan. Those who support stay of refugees in Pakistan, wants to see the people of this country in abject poverty, illiteracy, intolerance, extremism and subservient to war lords . Pakistan should not allow any refugees from any where whether it is Afghanistan or any other country. Afghan refugees has brought the culture of violence, weapons, drugs and extremism. In the interest of the country and our future generations, Afghan Refugees should be expelled from Pakistan