HYDERABAD, May 15: Speakers at a seminar on “Implications of War on Development” the other day stressed the need for Repatriating Afghan refugees.

The seminar was jointly organized by the Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) and Support Institution Development Network of Sindh (SINDNET).

The speakers also called upon the federal government, Sindh government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to establish refugee camps at Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.

A large number of representatives of NGOs and CBOs attended the seminar.

Dr Suleman Shaikh, Noor Mohammad Bajeer and others said that over two million Afghan refugees entered Pakistan in addition to 200,000 who had already been living in the country.

They said that 1.2 million refugees were housed in 127 major refugee camps, while the remaining were scattered in different towns and cities.

They said that the highest refugee concentration was in poor countries which had resulted in extreme hardships for the local population and the economies of these countries were under severe pressure.

The seminar demanded that illegal immigrants be stopped from purchasing properties and they should not be enlisted as voters.

The seminar demanded of the federal and Sindh governments, and the UNHCR, to carry out a survey of the refugees living in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.