40 years of Pakistani hospitality

Welcome to the unwelcomed is the lost spirit of giving refuge to the displaced. Consider a lost soul- they are those who are runaways, those who are strangers, those who are unwanted, those who have no identity, those who have no houses, those who have no land, those who do not belong. A refugee can be all this and more. There is nothing lonelier than being away from your home, from your neighbours, from your schools, from your playgrounds, from your family, from your graveyards, from your worship places, from just the very air whose smell first thing in the morning makes you live and be alive-imagine the life of a refugee who wants to belong but does not belong. The Refugee Summit 2020 recently held in Islamabad is a stark reminder of the plight of the refugees and a strong reminder of the unique contribution Pakistan has made to this ignored, disdained and dismissed cause by the more affluent countries.

Empathy and compassion is what distinguishes humans from animals and other beings. Unfortunately, empathy and compassion are what are missing in human beings in today's world. Never have human values been preached more in the world than now and never have human values been more violated than at present. As the world embroils itself in more conflicts and wars, the refugees of the world have become a reality that most nations do not want to face and deal with. In this world where open and free markets are taught and talked about open and free refuge to people who are externally displaced are shunned and closed out. In this context, what Pakistan has done for four decades for refugees is almost unparalleled and unprecedented.

Post-1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, millions of Afghanis crossed the Torkham border to take refuge in Pakistan. The world community did support Pakistan in the beginning but post-9/11 they withdrew the support and Pakistan with the help of UNCHR and a few others continued hosting and taking care of the continuous influx of refugees. The uniqueness of this situation is the length and breadth of hosting the refugees. While refugee hosting is a process where temporary sustenance is given to displaced people who after the improvement in their homeland situation return to their homelands, in the case of Afghan refugees most of them have preferred to stay in the country. This permanent nature of stay has created many complexities that need to be addressed and dealt with.

In Peshawar, the cultural boundaries of Pakistan and Afghanistan have mingled in language and food. "Mini Kabul", the bustling Refugee Market in the northwestern city of Peshawar is home to some 5,000 shops run by Afghan refugees. Afghan boys sell fresh fruit on carts, kababs, and signs are written in Dari or Pashto. The restaurants in the bustling bazaar sell Afghan dishes such as Kabuli pulao. While this integration is visible in other places, problems remain. Most young Afghans are now born in Pakistan and married in this country, yet it is difficult for them to get a permanent status. They struggle to get the benefits of a national and they struggle to vie for their homeland to become peaceful and welcoming.

Until recently the Afghan refugees were not allowed to open bank accounts and were thus dependent on informal and illegal channels. Prime Minister Imran Khan allowed them to open their bank accounts. Local laws prevented refugees from conducting transactions through Pakistani banks, forcing Afghans to rely on informal channels and local partners to conduct business and trade-related activities to feed their families. With this facility, the Afghan refugees financial transactions became much easier. Pakistani missions daily issue almost 4,000 visas to Afghans, including women and children, enabling them to see their relatives, seek medical treatment, education and undertake business activities in Pakistan. Pakistani officials says all of their diplomatic missions in Afghanistan issued nearly 750,000 visas in 2018.

For Pakistan, this hosting has cost in more than just financial terms. Cross border terrorism has been facilitated by the existence of camps that have millions of people living and crossing border making it very difficult to identify facilitators and hosts of illegal terror activities. APS killings were traced to Afghanistan. The use of Afghan turf by India to sponsor terrorists to attack Pakistan is an open secret. Refugee repatriation has been slow and difficult. While Pakistan has politely requested for this process it does not want to force people back. On the other hand, the Afghan government has made some offers to get their people back but it has not been effective. in July 2016, President Ghani's government launched a campaign, 'Khpal Watan, Gul Watan' (the grass is green in my land) to encourage Afghan nationals to repatriate, marking the first official initiative by Afghanistan since 1996.However very few refugees have taken this seriously and in fact more and more Afghans are seeking refuge in Pakistan. According to Amnesty International, Afghanistan failed to implement a 2014 national policy to provide basic living standards for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are "on the brink of survival".

While a lot of attention and focus is being placed on the Afghan peace process and the US/Afghan dialogue is almost at its finale, hardly any debate on the reintegration of the refugees has been done in the peace deal. There are many ifs and buts in this complex deal. How soon and how much will the US forces be withdrawn? What will be the state of security as it is handed over to the Afghan forces? How will the Afghan government react to sharing of government with Taliban? All these are the pivotal questions which have discouraging answers.

Pakistan is playing a very crucial role for peace in Afghanistan- a fact not recognized by the Afghan government and by many segments of Afghan people who still carry the baggage of the past betrayal. The Refugee Summit held on 17th and 18th of February in Pakistan commemorated 40 years of Pakistan's contribution to this cause. A contribution that has not been acknowledged by the world enough. Rarely has a nation so generously, so long, so hospitably housed people who had not only run away from their homeland but had also been abandoned by their own government. The attitude of the Europeans to house the Syrian war refugees and the blatant attempt by US to put walls on Mexico border are reflections of the magnitude of this four decades of accepting , protecting and providing for millions of refugees.

Compassion and generosity are bygone global values. Pakistan needs to project this contribution not just to the world but to the Afghan people who for years have harboured this distrust in their heart for a past that is no longer present. With Pakistan being acknowledged as a peace ambassador in the region, it is time for the world community to also commend its compassionate contribution to the ignored and abandoned humanity.

(The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com)