Afghan refugees: As deadline lingers, govt clueless over repatriation strategy
UNHCR spokesperson says tripartite meeting to be held on December 7, 8.
PESHAWAR:
As the deadline for the repatriation of Afghan refugees nears, the government does not appear to have a clear strategy to deal with the mass exodus.
Pakistan had earlier announced December 31 as the last date to repatriate all individuals who fled Afghanistan to escape fighting between local warlords and foreign forces. However, little headway has been made on how exactly the government intends to send the hundreds of thousands of people back to their homeland by the end of the year.
Currently, there are around 1.56 million registered Afghan refugees in the country, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan, Dunya Aslam Khan, told The Express Tribune.
She, however, admits the exact number of unregistered refugees is difficult to state.
According to Dunya, around one million Afghan refugees are presently living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). In the past few years, nearly seven million have willingly returned to their homeland, she added.
Dunya added that a tripartite meeting of the UNHCR will be held on December 7 and 8 in Lahore, where Pakistan and Afghanistan will decide on the next deadline for repatriating Afghans. She said that State and Frontier Regions (Safron) Minister Shaukatullah has also visited Afghanistan to negotiate with the government and see if the environment is conducive to send the families back.
An official of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department maintained that there are only 0.6 million refugees living in different camps and rented houses in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Of these, 0.265 million are registered while the others are residing illegally.
Nowshera DCO Ghulam Muhammad Khan said he had not yet received any information about a deadline or steps taken for the repatriation drive.
“We can only take further action once the provincial or federal government takes a decision,” said Khan.
The UNHCR spokesperson said the voluntary repatriation trend this year suggests a 34% increase in the number of refugees returning to their homeland as compared to 2011.
So far this year, a total of over 62,500 individuals have returned, while the UNHCR has assisted more than 3.7 million refugees in Pakistan to return since 2002, in what Dunya dubbed the world’s largest voluntary repatriation movement.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2012.
As the deadline for the repatriation of Afghan refugees nears, the government does not appear to have a clear strategy to deal with the mass exodus.
Pakistan had earlier announced December 31 as the last date to repatriate all individuals who fled Afghanistan to escape fighting between local warlords and foreign forces. However, little headway has been made on how exactly the government intends to send the hundreds of thousands of people back to their homeland by the end of the year.
Currently, there are around 1.56 million registered Afghan refugees in the country, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan, Dunya Aslam Khan, told The Express Tribune.
She, however, admits the exact number of unregistered refugees is difficult to state.
According to Dunya, around one million Afghan refugees are presently living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). In the past few years, nearly seven million have willingly returned to their homeland, she added.
Dunya added that a tripartite meeting of the UNHCR will be held on December 7 and 8 in Lahore, where Pakistan and Afghanistan will decide on the next deadline for repatriating Afghans. She said that State and Frontier Regions (Safron) Minister Shaukatullah has also visited Afghanistan to negotiate with the government and see if the environment is conducive to send the families back.
An official of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department maintained that there are only 0.6 million refugees living in different camps and rented houses in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Of these, 0.265 million are registered while the others are residing illegally.
Nowshera DCO Ghulam Muhammad Khan said he had not yet received any information about a deadline or steps taken for the repatriation drive.
“We can only take further action once the provincial or federal government takes a decision,” said Khan.
The UNHCR spokesperson said the voluntary repatriation trend this year suggests a 34% increase in the number of refugees returning to their homeland as compared to 2011.
So far this year, a total of over 62,500 individuals have returned, while the UNHCR has assisted more than 3.7 million refugees in Pakistan to return since 2002, in what Dunya dubbed the world’s largest voluntary repatriation movement.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2012.