Afghan DPs' repatriation: government calls APC to evolve broad-based consensus

The government has decided to call an all-parties conference (APC) on September 21, 2016 to evolve a consensus on repatriation of Afghan refugees after March 31, 2017, a new deadline approved by the Cabinet on Friday. Talking to Business Recorder, Dr Imran Zaib, Chief Commissioner on Afghan Refugees, said that the decision to call an all-parties meeting was taken in the wake of the new extension given to registered Afghan refugees and all national political leadership as well as chief ministers of the four provinces have also been invited to attend.

"The Prime Minister has directed the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) to sit with the political leadership of all parties and develop consensus on the issue of Afghan refugees," he said. He said that letters have also been sent to the heads of the political parties and the chief ministers of the provinces to attend the meeting and prepare recommendations on the repatriation of the Afghan refugees. "The recommendations will be submitted to the federal cabinet for final approval on the issue," he added. To a question about the resources and any international assistance for hosting around 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees and over one million unregistered Afghans in the country, he said that at present there was no international assistance for hosting such a huge number of refugees.

However, sources in Ministry of SAFRON said that the international community had earlier promised to provide $600 million in 2012 but only $175 million were disbursed. They said that for the last two decades, international community has withdrawn its financial support for Afghan refugees and is currently contributing half a dollar per head for health and one dollar per child for education of Afghan refugees in the country.

A spokesperson for the UNHCR in Islamabad, while talking to Business Recorder, stated "the UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR) welcome the Cabinet's decision to extend the stay of registered Afghan refugees until March 31, 2017. This extension will bring much needed relief to anxious Afghan refugees. The extension is a very positive development for those Afghan refugees who wanted to return but needed more time to organise their return in a planned manner."

Pakistan is hosting more than 3 million Afghan refugees for nearly four decades and about 70,000 registered and 113,378 non-registered Afghan refugees have left Pakistan so far. This year, according to SAFRON Ministry, the repatriation of the total registered Afghan refugees was 115,000 out of which 63,000 left the country in August.

Since 1980, Afghan refugees' influx recorded 4.4 million and repatriation 5.9 million. The major challenge being faced by the country in dealing with the refugees, according to SAFRON ministry's sources, is dwindling international support, Afghan refugee issue being on the back burner in the West, strict border management, and business closure and property disposal.

Earlier, the deadline of December 31, 2016 was set for the registered and November 15, 2016 for non-registered Afghan refugees to leave the country with dignity but a crackdown was carried out on non-registered refugees in the wake of terrorist attacks which also affected registered refugees.
Pakistan, according to the sources, would also take up the issue of Afghan refugees and the lack of international support during the upcoming high-level meeting on refugees and migrants to be held in New York later this month on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session.