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| January 30, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 26,1423 |
UNHCR says help for DPs to continue
QUETTA, Jan 29: A UN official has pledged that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will continue to support efforts that help improve the situation in Afghanistan for a safe and dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland.
The official, New York UNHCR Director Eric Morris, was talking to the representatives of around 19,000 stranded Afghans at the Chaman waiting area, along the Pak-Afghan border, during his visit to the area, a statement of the world body issued here on Wednesday said.
Mr Morris is also scheduled to visit Afghanistan and Iran, on behalf of UNHCR High Commissioner Luud Rubbers, to assess the situation in the region regarding Afghan refugees’ issues.
“People assume that the situation in Afghanistan is improving, but due to a long war, the recovery process will take a longer period than expected. We will try to get the message across to the world that Afghan people are still suffering and their miseries are yet to be resolved,” said Eric Morris.
He said: “Afghans, displaced in many countries, are right to ask for things that they needed to return to Afghanistan, and the UNHCR will support those activities towards the rehabilitation of the war-torn Afghanistan.”
Mr Morris, during his stay in Pakistan also visited Islamabad, the NWFP and Quetta.
In Quetta, he met Afghan Consul General Mohammed Sadiq Daduzai and Commissioner of Afghan Refugees, Balochistan, Mumtaz Ali Raja.
During the meeting, Mr Morris had told Mr Sadiq that his visit was meant to highlight that the Afghan situation was still far from resolved and it still needed due attention. “I am here to learn more from the situation and brief the high commissioner on my return to New York,” he said.
The Afghan consul general had informed the director that the development pace in Afghanistan was still slow owing to a low rate of voluntary repatriations of Afghans from Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Mr Morris left for Afghanistan.
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