Nowhere to go: Afghan refugees weigh their dwindling options
At 70 years old, Mohammad Issa is already struggling to survive in Islamabad, where he sought refuge from war in Afghanistan years ago. Suffering from a heart condition, he has trouble leaving the house and depends on his children, who collect cardboard for a living.
Yet with the legal status of Afghan refugees in jeopardy, Issa may be soon faced with the prospect of starting over back home.
“I have lived a very tough life. I am tired now. I don’t want to bother anyone. I just want to be left alone so I can live out the rest of my years,” Issa told IRIN, the UN information unit.
He is among 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan whose registration documents are set to expire at the end of this year. The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have not decided on an arrangement for the refugees beyond that date.
Decades of displacement
The first Afghan refugees came to Pakistan when the war in Afghanistan started in the late 1970s. Since then, many more have come and set up businesses, constructed homes and settled into professions. The governments in Islamabad and Kabul, with UNHCR assistance, have provided identification cards to refugees to protect them from forcible deportation.
But Pakistan’s Afghan refugees are now in limbo. Few can even afford to travel to the border if they are forced out.
At the Dhok Choorah settlement that houses about a hundred Afghan families in Islamabad, there is a mix of defiance, uncertainty and resignation.
“I have no plan, no money, if they force us out. I don’t even have the money for a bus to the border. We will have to walk,” said Najibullah Khan, 75, who scrapes together a living collecting paper and glass from the streets to sell to scrap yards. He barely earns enough to feed his five children, four of whom have learning disabilities.
Many younger Afghans, born and raised in Pakistan, do not see return to the country of their parents’ origin - which is still wracked with violence and lacks opportunity - as an option.
“There is no way I’m going back to Afghanistan, no way anyone is forcing me go to back,” said Khan Mohammad, 23, who works as a labourer at one of Islamabad’s busiest markets. “I’d rather die than allow my children and my wife to go to Afghanistan. There is nothing but bloodshed and misery there.”
“I’m trying to find a way to move to another country, but I have no money so it is difficult. But I’ll keep trying. If I fail, I’d rather stay here.”
Situation unclear
Pakistani officials have been quoted as saying registration cards for Afghan refugees will not be renewed, and that they will be asked to leave the country, but Pakistan’s government is rife with internal power struggles, and others insist no decision has yet been taken.
The situation remains unclear, said a senior government official at the Commissionerate Afghan Refugees, run by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government. “Several discussions have taken place. We agree that the proof of registration cards will expire at the end of the year, but we have still not made a decision on what arrangement will be put in place after that,” he said while requesting anonymity.
UN officials have also said that no such decision has been made and that various bodies are in discussions over an arrangement.
Mohammad Hussain, 24, a law student who works as an office manager at a law firm in Islamabad, is holding out hope.
“No one is sure about our status after December 31, but I’ve talked to human rights lawyers, and I don’t think they will force us out. They can’t. It would be a major international issue and the UN will not allow that,” he said.
UNHCR says Afghans in Pakistan will maintain their refugee status regardless of the government of Pakistan’s decision.
“People have built their entire lives here. This is their home,” Hussain said. “The government can’t just say, ‘Leave everything and go.’”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2012.
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@abdussamad
Bring Biharis home first and then talk of Afghan refugees.
They should be given Pakistani citizenship.
It's a sad situation for Afghans and I hope the best for their future, but Pakisan is running low on resources for its own people, we just can't take in hundreds of thousands of these people who reward their host nation with crime, gun culture and drugs and some of them openly detest Pakistan. About time they made an effort to fix their own society instead of leeching off of us.