A humanitarian approach

Afghan refugees in Pakistan are constantly kept on tenterhooks as decisions about their future are made by the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the UNHCR, whose chief was in Pakistan this week. The purpose of his visit was to persuade the prime minister and his adviser on foreign affairs to extend the deadline for their repatriation to Afghanistan. The deadlines for repatriation have come and gone several times before and it remains to be seen if Pakistan will extend the date based on the UNHCR recommendations, but for now, the authorities seem determined to complete the repatriation process by December 31. This deadline was put in place following the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar last year.

Pakistani authorities have often been known to directly equate the problem of terrorism to the presence of Afghan refugees. This is a highly unfair correlation. However, it is also true that in a country as populated as Pakistan with scarce resources of gas, electricity and other basic utilities, hosting millions of Afghan nationals is not a small burden. Pakistan hosts the largest refugee population in the world, with nearly 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees and nearly half a million unregistered ones. While the economic burden on Pakistan is a reality, so is the fact that many Afghan nationals living here have only known life in Pakistan. Afghan refugees have been in Pakistan for decades now and have settled here, married here and raised families. To send them back means to uproot them again. If this must be done, all humanitarian considerations need to be taken into account, with their best interests kept in mind. Afghanistan must play its role and make conditions inviting enough to encourage refugees to return voluntarily. The voice of the Afghan refugees is barely ever heard. When sending millions of people back to Afghanistan, compassion must not be lost, and they should only be repatriated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.

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