February 18, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 19, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The government on Friday admitted that presence of Afghans in the country has reduced job opportunities for the local labour force. Minister for States and Frontier Regions Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, replying to a question by MNA Samina Khalid Ghurki, told the National Assembly that the situation had adverse impact on the local economy.

However, the government has not conducted any survey to assess the impact of the presence of Afghans on the job market and the economy as a whole. According to the Census of Afghans in Pakistan-2005, 53.3 per cent of the Afghan refugees work on daily wages in different fields, 19.2 per cent are self-employed, 8.1 per cent have other forms of employment, 10 per cent are dependent on others and other categories constitute 9.4 per cent of their population in Pakistan.

This census had showed that there were 3,049,269 Afghans in Pakistan in March 2005. Out of these 442,049 have been repatriated so far, which constituted 14.5 per cent of the confirmed population of Afghans in Pakistan.

As per these figures, 2.607 million Afghans are still in Pakistan. The minister said 28,887 were in the federal capital. The government had got the I-11 Afghan kutchi abadi (Islamabad) vacated in September 2005. About 95 per cent were repatriated back to their country, while the remaining moved to other locations in Pakistan at their own.

The government, the minister said, was considering proposals for getting other areas, where Afghans were residing in Islamabad, vacated. However, a final decision has yet to be taken.