Federal Minister for Water and Power, KANA and SAFRON, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said on Monday that the progress of Afghan refugees repatriation is satisfactory and repatriation of two million total refugees has been completed so far.
Addressing here at the departure ceremony of a group of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan, the minister said the conditions inside Afghanistan have improved and stabilised and the Afghan refugees feel motivated to return to their homeland.
He said that we are not forcing any refugee to repatriate, rather the whole process is purely voluntary. "The Afghan refugees themselves want to repatriate as they want to take part in the rebuilding and reconstruction process of their country", he added.
The minister said the refugees have spent about 25 years in Pakistan and some of the young people are going to their homeland for the first time.
He said that Pakistan shares close ties of religion and language with the Afghans and this is the reason that it welcomed Afghan refugees and tried its best to provide them with every possible help and necessities of life like education, health and clean water.
Pakistani government has taken good care of the Afghan refugees and we hope that they will act as unofficial Pakistani ambassadors to Afghanistan, he said and hoped that they will work towards building stronger ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The minister also said that the reconstruction process of Afghanistan has started as the construction of schools, hospitals, roads and canals has been started there and the situation has become stable and peaceful in the country.
The minister also thanked the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for the support, it provided for the Afghan refugees and hoped that the UNHCR would join hands with the Pakistani government for the repatriation of all Afghan refugees.
The UNHCR Country Representative Guenet Guebre Christos, Chief Commissioner Afghan Refugees Syed Asif Shah and other officials were also present on the occasion.
The minister also distributed registration documents to the heads of the repatriating families. Later, he bade farewell to the departing Afghan refugees boarding buses and trucks and wished them a safe and peaceful journey to their homeland.
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