PESHAWAR: Despite registering 370,000 undocumented Afghan nationals across the country, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has yet to deliver cards to the applicants.

The officials concerned said that Nadra had yet to start printing of cards to be provided to the registered Afghan citizens. They said that Nadra did not start printing of cards since launching of the registration process.

“The authority is supposed to issue card to Afghan nationals soon after completing registration process,” said an official. He added that backlog had increased owing to delay in the printing process.

“Not a single card has been issue so far,” he said.

Card to legalise refugees’ stay; process part of National Action Plan

The countrywide registration of undocumented Afghan nationals was started on August 16 and its last deadline is January 16, 2018. Under the plan, the government has set a target of registering around one million Afghan citizens, who are staying in Pakistan without valid documents.

The government is issuing Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) to them after their registration that will legalise their stay in Pakistan for indefinite period without getting refugee status. The process is part of 20-point National Action Plan that was unveiled in early 2015. Over 200,000 unregistered Afghan nationals went back to Afghanistan in 2016 when law enforcement agencies launched crackdown against them.

Nadra in collaboration with Afghan Commissionerate and Afghanistan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation is conducting the registration process. Nadra has set up 21 registration centres in the country and 11 of them are functioning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project cost is around Rs175 million.

Officials said that Nadra had registered total 370,000 undocumented Afghan nationals during the last four months and 230,000 of them were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone. Roughly, they said, the province was hosting over half a million undocumented Afghan citizens.

An official, who is dealing with the registration process, said that large numbers of Afghan passport holders were also applying for the card.

“Approximately 40 to 45 per cent of the applicants are Afghan passport holders,” he said. He said that most of the Afghan citizens wanted to obtain ACC because of instability and fighting in their war-torn country. He said that Afghan nationals did not show their passport when they visited registration centres.

The official said that government had yet to decide to extend the registration process if the target was not achieved by January next. He said that registration process had also slowed down and the desired one million target could not be achieved.

On the other hand repatriation of Afghan refugees is also going at snail’s pace and officials said that only 45,000 refugees had returned to their country since January last. UNHCR is facilitating the voluntary repatriation programme.

Over 1.3 million Afghan refugees are staying in Pakistan and they will lose their legal status by December 31, 2017 if the federal government does not give further extension. Voluntary repatriation centre in Chamkani area of Peshawar is wearing a deserted look.

Officials said that about 400,000 refugees had proceeded to Afghanistan last year but the process was going slow in the current year because of prevailing uncertainty in the country. Presently, the UN agency is paying $200 per head to the returning family. The amount was $400 last year. The federal cabinet was likely to give another one-year extension to refugees, they said.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2017