Taking stock: Efforts to repatriate Afghan refugees

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of States and Frontier Regions on Tuesday announced that efforts are underway to repatriate majority of the remaining 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees by December 2015 on voluntary basis. The repatriation of registered Afghan refugees is undertaken on a “voluntary basis” as per Tripartite Agreement between governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which is valid till December 31, 2015. The Ministry said that the Repatriation Package being paid to each returnee has also been enhanced from US$ 150 to US$ 200 from January 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th,2014.