ISLAMABAD, June 6: As many as 150 Afghan refugees on Tuesday left for their country from UNHCR’s Tarnol Voluntary Repatriation Cenatre near Islamabad. The Commissioner for Afghan Refugees in Punjab, Riaz Hameed Chaudhry while seeing them off said: “There’s now democracy in Afghanistan and the Pakistan government is very happy that you’re going back to rebuild your country”.

Some 1,000 refugees have returned from Rawalpindi in recent months, bringing to 73,000 the total number of Afghans who have repatriated so far this year, said UNHCR’s assistant representative, Indrika Ratwatte.

Among those repatriating from Rawalpindi was 35-year-old Abdul Mohammad, who was taking his in-laws back to Kunduz province.

“My wife’s mother is a widow, so they need a man to travel with them. I’ll take 10 or 15 days to help them settle down, then come back for my own family,” he said.

Abdul, who came to Pakistan in 1981 from Jalalabad, lived in a camp in Peshawar for five years before moving to Rawalpindi, where he earned daily wages doing construction and masonry work.

“We earn so little here, it’s not enough to travel. It’s only with UNHCR help that we can afford to go back today,” said Abdul, acknowledging that he won’t be eligible for assistance the next time he returns with his own family. “I’m going back of my own will. Security has improved and there is work available. It’s always better to live and work in my own country.”—Online