ISLAMABAD: Discussing the plight of Afghan refugees, experts at a UN seminar said the lack of political will was the reason Afghans had not returned to their country.

At a panel discussion hosted by the UNHCR on Tuesday, Ayaz Wazir who served as ambassador to Afghanistan, said Pakistan had a ‘hopscotch’ policy on the matter from the start. “There is a clear lack of direction and it is ordinary citizens who are suffering”.

He said Pakistan should have limited refugees from Afghanistan to one area from the start as was done in Iran or that a solution should now be sought to ensure all 2.5 million refugees go back.

He added: “There is one more solution and that is granting the Afghans here a legal status.”

Refugees may not want to return because of instability in Kabul

The former envoy to Afghanistan said the best solution would be the Afghan government taking all their citizens back. However, he said, it seemed impossible.

Mr Wazir said: “Far from going back to their own country, if the instability in Kabul is not controlled more people will be fleeing to the neighbouring countries.”

He said instability in Afghanistan was not because of insurgencies or terrorism but because, “the government in Kabul has two heads, both at odds with each other”.

The instability in Afghanistan resulted in Pakistan being the eventual political victim, he said, adding that there was a lot of “finger pointing and blame for the country that has hosted millions of refugees”.

Mr Wazir also criticised the behaviour of the police towards Afghan refugees and said authorities were not issuing visas to Afghan students who had earned scholarships to institutions here.

“We grant a scholarship for them to study here for a couple of years and issue a one month visa.

The students have to go back every month to get the visa renewed,” he added.

Chief Commissioner Afghan Refugees, Islamabad, Dr Imran Zeb said plans announced by the current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani would help start the process of sending refuges back by the end of December 2015.

However, Dr Zeb said, the new repatriation plans were challenged not only by instability in Afghanistan but also by the lack of opportunities there.

“Among the 2.5 million refugees here, around 70 per cent are young people and the opportunities and facilities available to them here do not exist in Afghanistan. They may not want to go back,” Dr Zeb said.

Some 3.1 million Afghans had returned to their country since 2002, according to Johann Siffointe, who is the deputy representative of UNHCR in Pakistan.

Mr Siffointe said the UN believed in the voluntary return of refugees, with integrity.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2015

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