ISLAMABAD, May 25: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has decided to repatriate 0.6 million Afghan refugees this year.

“Out of the total 0.6 million Afghan refugees, 0.3 million will be repatriated from the NWFP, 0.125 million from Balochistan, 70,000 from Sindh and about 0.1 million from Islamabad and the Punjab,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees official said.

The UNHCR’s focus is on the Afghans living in the camps, who are more eager to return to their homeland, the official said, adding that the refugees are being properly scanned to prevent them from returning back to Pakistan.

The Afghans, aged above 12, will have to go through the newly set up United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees scanning centres at Hayatabad, Peshawar and Chaman before returning to their homeland, the official said.