PESHAWAR: “Pakistan is my country and the ongoing repatriation process is nothing more than just migration to Afghanistan for me,” said Fazal Rahim, an Afghan refugee, who born in Pakistan.

He has not seen the days when his elders left their homeland for Pakistan after Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The young and energetic Afghan runs a cloth business at Chakdara refugee camp and earns sufficient income to meet his routine expenditures.

Holding his son in his lap, Mr Rahim told Dawn that the report about repatriation of refugees badly affected his business as everyone in the camp was in a hurry to collect the household items and contact his relatives to seek a reasonable shelter in Afghanistan.

Young residents of Chakdara camp say they consider Pakistan their own country as they were born here

“We belong to Laghman province of Afghanistan. We have land properties there but even then repatriation is a difficult process for us,” said Mr Rahim. He added that he was born in Pakistan and felt as if he was leaving his own country.

He said that most of the young Afghans, who had born in Pakistan, were not mentally ready to leave the country. He said that they considered Pakistan their own country. “We have spent entire life in the camp and want to continue staying here,” he added.

Same were the feelings of other young Afghans, who had gathered in a hut to seek solution to their problems, created owing to police checking on the main roads.

“In the past date for sending back refugees would got extended but this time it seems difficult because police have started monitoring our entry and exit points,” said a young Afghan.

Ghulam Habib, another refugee, said that in the past successive governments used to extend their stay and that’s why they took the announcement as an ordinary one but attitude of police proved that at last they were supposed to leave for Afghanistan.

He said he worked at the canteen of Malakand University but he lost his job as the manager wanted to hire services of a local person, who could stay permanently. “I was replaced the very next week when the news appeared in media about repatriation of the refugees,” he said and added that he was jobless and unable to meet his routine expenditures.

Abdul Hakeem, another refugee, said that he used to sell mobile phone sets and other accessories but the shop owner expelled him with the instructions to recover the stuck up money of Rs.4 million from clients before leaving for Afghanistan.

“The clients are dodging me as they know that we are about to leave the country. However, I have to pay it to the shopkeeper otherwise he will hand me over to police,” he said.

Mr Hakeem said that movement of unregistered Afghans had become almost impossible owing to checking by police on the roads. He said that many Afghans had identity cards but even then they were harassed.

Some other residents of the camp said that they had relationship with Pakistanis and would face great hardships in repatriation. They demanded of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to extend their stay so that they could collect their stuck-up money from the clients otherwise they would face huge losses.

They also talked about the problems they would face in Afghanistan owing to increasing influence of Daesh (the self-styled Islamic State). “No doubt, Afghanistan is our country but in the prevailing circumstances Pakistan is better where our people have business, sources of income and living peaceful life,” said Agha Naseer, a resident of the camp.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016