July 29, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18,1423

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ISLAMABAD, July 28: The government has decided to undertake a survey to ascertain the exact number of Afghan refugees in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The figures available with the UNHCR and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees are based on estimates.

According to UNHCR, “estimates” there are approximately 250,000 Afghan refugees in the twin cities. Since the repatriation drive launched less than five months ago, some 150,000 refugees have registered with the UNHCR to go back to Afghanistan.

Over 1.2 million refugees returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, following the repatriation drive. The number is three times what UNHCR had expected for the whole year, sources said.

However, the question as to how many refugees still remain cannot be answered. Thousands of them live in the teeming slums, spread between Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The call for Afghans to leave is loudest in Islamabad. Of the 11,000 refugees going home from Pakistan daily, about 15 per cent are from the capital. Some 1,800 people a day were returning from Islamabad alone.