PESHAWAR: As the deadline for stay of refugees in the country draws near, Afghanistan’s Ambassador Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has urged Pakistan to continue its policy of voluntary return of refugees.

Addressing a jirga on Wednesday, he expressed the hope that Pakistan would not force refugees’ repatriation and fulfil its commitment to ensuring their return with dignity.

He also hinted at the factors that might have pushed Islamabad to take the harsh decision of not giving an extension in the stay of registered Afghan refugees.

“It is not a good policy that Afghan refugees have to face the consequences of ups and downs in the Pak-Afghan relations, or due to issues with a third country. It’s not good for Pakistan’s international image,” said Mr Zakhilwal, referring to recent complications in the country’s ties with the US.

Ambassador will meet Safron minister to discuss issue

Peshawar-based Afghan consul general Muhammad Moeen Marastial was present on the occasion.

“You were born here, acquired education and established businesses in Pakistan. But you can’t live as a refugee for the whole life. One day you have to go back to your country,” he said. In the same breath, however, he reiterated that Pakistan would fulfil its commitment to ensuring return of the refugees with dignity.

The deadline for the stay of registered refugees is Jan 31 and the government has hinted that it may not extend it further.

Pakistan is hosting 1.4 million registered refugees and 700,000 more were documented in the recent census.

Mr Zakhilwal said he would meet Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron)retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch in Islamabad on Thursday (today) to discuss the issue of refugees, hoping that the Pakistan government would clarify its position on the deadline.

He said the voluntary repatriation of refugees would begin by the end of March or April and refugees should avail the opportunity. The programme would begin under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which would pay $200 to each refugee as cash assistance after returning to Afghanistan.

However, the ambassador lamented that his country did not facilitate the returnees that affected the repatriation process. In this regard he blamed Afghanistan’s bureaucracy for not fulfilling basic needs of refugees on their return.

He said he had suggested to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to provide the returnees four basic facilities: shelter, education, health and drinking water. Unfortu­nately, he regretted, the commitments were not fulfilled.

He asked the jirga to select 15 elders to visit Kabul for discussing the return package with President Ghani. He was hopeful that around 1m refugees out of 2.1m would repatriate to their country this year if they were properly facilitated.

The envoy recalled that over 800,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan in 2016.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018