PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt-Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch has said a new plan is being made to ensure repatriation of registered Afghan refugees by mid-2016.

“I am not announcing any date to extend stay of (Afghan) refugees beyond December 2015, but the government is working out new plan to be carried out in three phases,” he told reporters here on Tuesday.

The minister accompanied United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres during a visit to the voluntary repatriation centre in Chamkani here.

The relevant officials briefed the delegation about the ongoing voluntary repatriation process and met elders of the refugee council.

Baloch said the federal cabinet would approve the plan to be completed in three phases.

He said the last phase would be completed by mid-2016.

The minister said the Afghan government was also establishing a special cell to provide passports to Afghans living in Pakistan without legal documents.

He said registration of undocumented Afghans would start next month.

Baloch reiterated the government’s stand that registered refugees won’t be expelled but the government wanted to complete voluntary return of Afghans by December 2015.

He said the federal government was in contact with the relevant Afghan authorities to work out a joint plan for the purpose.

Minister says repatriation will be completed by mid-2016 in three phases

Around 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees could stay in Pakistan until December.

On the occasion, the UNHCR chief said despite their prolonged sufferings, Afghan refugees had been ignored by the international community due to crises in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other parts of the world.

“People tend to forget sufferings of Afghan refugees because of Middle East crises. I make a strong appeal to the international community to support programme to be developed by the Afghan government for refugees,” he said.

Guterres said it was not the responsibility of Pakistan and Iran to take care of Afghan living in the country, the largest refugee population in the world after Syria, and the international would have to play its role.

“This is our collective responsibility to continue assistance of Afghan refugees because they have paid high price,” he said.

The UNHCR chief said the Safron minister had given assurance that refugees won’t be expelled from Pakistan.

He said Pakistan and Afghanistan would find solution to the sustainable return of refugees with the support of UNHCR.

Guterres said he was optimistic that voluntary repatriation would be enhanced in an orderly manner and would be carried out without violation of rights.

“Pakistan is probably the most generous country and I don’t think it would do something against the tradition of hospitality and generosity,” he said, adding that Afghan government too was committed to creating favourable conditions for voluntary repatriation.

The UNHCR chief said the ministerial level conference would discuss refugees’ related issues in Geneva in October.

Antonio Guterres visited the site of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital Peshawar, which is under construction, and inaugurated the emergency assessment unit (EAU).

A statement said the facility would benefit around 9,500 patients every year and 25 per cent of them would be Afghan refugees.

The establishment of EAU is funded by the US government through UNHCR and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees under the joint initiative of the government and UN’s Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas.

The project’s total cost is Rs35 million, including Rs30.5 million for putting up the structure and Rs4.5 million for securing medical equipment.

The UNHCR chief praised the SKMCH for offering specialised medical care and free treatment to thousands of underprivileged cancer patients in Pakistan, including Afghan refugees, during the last two decades.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2015

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