Forced repatriation: Registration deadline passes, illegal Afghan refugees told to pack their bags

DCO says those with legal documentation will not be sent back.

PESHAWAR: Nearly three months after the deadline for registration, heads of Afghan refugees camps have been told to forcefully repatriate people lacking proper documentation.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an official at the Afghan Commissionerate said that DCOs will be responsible for repatriating families residing in the city, while the commissionerate will send back refugee living in camps.

Representatives of camps were told at a meeting held in March that families who fail to register themselves with the UNHCR and Pakistan government until May will be sent back to Afghanistan. “We would rather repatriate people than put them in jail,” the official said. Unregistered refugees caught inside the city are jailed under the Foreigners Act.

Head of Zandai refugee camp in Chamkani, Maulvi Abdul Qadeer, confirmed that he had been told about the decision by Pakistani authorities. “Our people have spent more than three decades in Pakistan and they even have businesses here,” he said, “Forceful repatriation is in clear violation of their human rights.” Qadeer added that most refugees had refugee cards issued by the Pakistan government, but in his camp of 900 families, at least 70 were unregistered.

An Afghan refugee, Dilshad, said that survival in the war-torn country was very difficult for the common man. “Those with businesses or government jobs have it is easy, but for a poor man it is difficult to survive.” There are jobs in big cities like Kabul and Jalalabad, but accommodation is very expensive, he said. “We would have to live in our mountain villages and travel several hours on buses every day.”

Afghan embassy spokesperson Zardasht Shams told The Express Tribune that his government is against forced repatriation of refugees and that a step-by-step approach should be adopted instead. “We also want them to go back to their country and take part in the rehabilitation process, but we are against this forced repatriation,” Shams said. He refuted the claim that the Afghan government had entered into any sort of agreement with Pakistan to forcefully send back illegal refugees.

We are not going to send back legal and registered Afghan refugees,” said Peshawar DCO Javed Marwat, adding “They are also being deported because many of them are involved in anti-social activities.”

At present, there are approximately 1.7 million Afghan refugees registered in the country, while roughly 1 million Afghans are believed to be living illegally.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.