THE figures are difficult to contemplate, and nearly as disturbing as the stories and images that have emerged of the desperate exodus of humanity streaming out of war-torn nations over the last few years.

According to a UN report on World Refugee Day on Monday, 34,000 people per day were displaced last year — that works out to 24 people per minute of every day.

The number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide reached a record 65.3m at the end of last year. In 2014, the number was 60m, the highest since the Second World War.

The issue of refugees is one that Pakistan has had a long acquaintance with.

Among the countries hosting refugees at present, Turkey with 2.5m — nearly all of them from Syria — has taken in the most, while Pakistan is at second place with 1.6m. Pakistan, however, along with Iran, has been playing host to its refugee population of Afghans since the 1980s after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan forced millions to flee their country.

As can be seen in the scenarios playing out before us in Europe — and even off its shores — the subject of refugees is a fraught one.

For it hinges on ideas of religion, race, immigration, etc that are politically and emotionally charged, ideas that are used to justify xenophobia and scapegoating whenever expedient — although conversely, they sometimes bring out the best in people as well.

Closer to home, we have seen Afghan refugees being singled out from time to time whenever a major terrorist incident has taken place or when there is a renewed drive to tackle criminal activity in an area.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz in a television interview said that Afghan refugee camps in the country had become “safe havens for terrorists” and that those fleeing Afghanistan in the 1980s had brought drugs, guns and instability to Pakistan.

While one can understand a certain amount of weariness with a refugee problem that has been so protracted, our leadership should refrain from sweeping statements that have any affinity with the vitriol being heard from some quarters in the West.

The cherry-picking of facts and lack of nuance in both cases is entirely unjustified and only exacerbates the refugees’ difficulties.

One can fairly assume that rather than languish in camps, many Afghan refugees would themselves prefer to return to their country as soon as it is a viable option.'

Published in Dawn, June 22nd , 2016