Pakistan will register around one million Afghan refugees, Pakistani and Afghan officials said on Tuesday after talks in Islamabad. Besides the unregistered Afghan, Pakistan still hosts 1.61 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the UN Refugee Agency said. The registered Afghans have Proof of Registration (PoR) cards to stay in Pakistan till December 31, 2015.
Afghanistan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation, Sayed Hussain Alemi Balki, led his nine-member team in bilateral talks in Islamabad with Pakistani side to discuss the issue of refugees amid complaints of their arrest and expulsion. Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Abdul Qadir Baloch, led the Pakistani side in the talks.
"Both sides agreed for the documentation of un-registered Afghan nationals in Pakistan with the technical support from NADRA and verification by Afghan authorities," a joint statement said on Tuesday. The Afghan delegation arrived in Islamabad on Sunday amid claims that Pakistan has launched a "crackdown" of the refugees following the Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.
A committee comprising three members from Afghanistan and three from Pakistan was constituted which will work out the modalities for documentation of un-registered Afghans in Pakistan and subsequent issuance of necessary documents by Government of Afghanistan.
Both sides also endorsed an "Enhanced Voluntary Return and Reintegration Package" and it was agreed that both governments will work jointly with traditional and new donors for generation of funds, which would be help sustainable reintegration efforts. They also agreed that a Common Strategy and Plan of repatriation will be worked out between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR with clear timelines keeping in view the ground realities and absorption capacity inside Afghanistan.
Balki told the meeting that any repatriation plan should be based on ground realities especially in the aftermath of three decades of war in Afghanistan, the statement said. He said the National Unity Government of Afghanistan has chalked out a strategy for the repatriation and reintegration of Afghan nationals. However, he highlighted the challenges and requirements which are to be faced in the process including extending the existing deadline of December 2015. Abdul Qadir Baloch emphasised that since the deadline of December 2015 is approaching fast, both the countries should immediately start working on an Action Plan ensuring voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees to their motherland.
Pakistan had registered some 2.15 million Afghans with the help of UNHCR in 2006-7. The PoR cards, valid until December 2009, were issued. In December 2012, the Cabinet agreed to extend the stay of Afghan refugees in Pakistan until June 30, 2013 as an interim measure whilst the GoP formulated a national policy on Afghan refugees for the period beyond June 2013.
In July 2013, Pakistan approved a new policy on Afghan refugees, which included the extension of the PoR cards and the Tripartite Agreement on Voluntary Repatriation until December 31, 2015. According to UNHCR approximately 33 percent of the population lives in 76 Refugee Villages (RVs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab. The remaining 67 percent lives in urban and rural areas.
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