United Nations High Commissionerate for Refugees (UNCHR) has announced that Afghans refugees in Pakistan who failed to get them registered till December 31, 2006 would not be allowed to stay in Pakistan.
Dr Imran Zeb, Chief Commissioner of Afghan Refugees (CCAR) told newsmen here on Saturday that some 300,000 Afghans in Pakistan have so far been registered in a government exercise to give them identification after decades in exile. The figure includes some 50,000 registered in Punjab as registration in the provincial capital wrap up on Saturday.
He said the registration, which started on October 15 and is expected to continue through the end of the year, aims to provide Afghans who were counted in March 2005's census with proof of registration cards that are valid for three years and recognise the bearers as Afghan citizens temporarily living in Pakistan.
More than 6,100 Afghans were registered in the Lahore phase of registration that ran from October 15 to November 18. This covers 33 percent of the estimated 18,500 Afghans living in Lahore, he added.
Explaining the challenges, UNCHR Assistant representative Indrika Ratwatte said: "The Afghan population here is very scattered, but we managed to mobilise them with help from partner agencies like Sharp, Caritas and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR)."
Ratwatte said during the census, some Afghans gave the enumerators wrong names out of fear and suspicion. Now they cannot remember those names and we cannot find them in the database.
Colonel Muhammad Iqbal, DG Nadra said on the occasion that reason for the low turnout in Lahore is the fact that many Afghans counted here in the census were single men who have since moved to other parts of Pakistan in search of work. He informed the media men that registration has ended in Lahore, it is expected to continue in selected parts of the country until December 31. Within Punjab and the capital territory, the exercise is ongoing in Islamabad, Mianwali, Khushab, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat and will soon start in Chakwal, Gujranwala and Sialkot.
There are an estimated 2.4 million Afghans living in Pakistan today, including some 190,200 in Punjab and the capital territory. The nation wide registration exercise is implemented by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) with the support of CAR and UN refugee agency. The European Commission, the United States and the United Kingdom have contributed to 6 million dollar exercise, he added.