Afghan refugees: UNHCR representative visits Balochistan

Meets other government officials, Afghan refugee elders, and some of UNHCR’s NGO partners.

QUETTA: On a three-day mission to Balochistan, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Pakistan Neill Wright visited a number of his agency’s projects in Qila Saifullah, Loralai and Ziarat, and met with the provincial governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi. Wright also met other government officials, Afghan refugee elders, and some of UNHCR’s NGO partners. He also visited several Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) initiative projects. The UNHCR representative emphasised the importance of close cooperation with the federal and provincial government in assisting both Afghan refugee communities and local communities who have hosted refugees for over three decades. The UNHCR official noted that some 350,000 Afghan refugees had been hosted in refugee villages as well as within local communities in Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.