ISLAMABAD: The Senate Functional Committee on the Problems of Less Developed Areas on Tuesday suggested that Afghan refugees should not be forced to return to Afghanistan following a presentation by Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Saleem Khan in which he shared figures about the number of Afghans living in Pakistan.

As many as 2.8 million Afghans are living in Pakistan, with each Afghan family consisting of 7.2 persons and 74 per cent of them born in Pakistan, Mr Khan said in the meeting of the Senate committee, chaired by Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party legislator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, held at the parliament house on Tuesday.

“Out of 2.8m Afghans, 1.4m are registered, 850,000 have Afghan residence cards and around half a million have been living without documents. Only 32pc Afghans are in refugee camps and 68pc have shifted out of the camps to different parts of the country,” Mr Khan said.

Giving further details, he said that 58pc Afghans were residing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23pc in Balochistan, 11pc in Punjab, 4.5pc in Sindh and 2.4pc were living in the federal capital.

“Around 82pc Afghans came to Pakistan in 1979-80 and now their third generation is residing in Pakistan,” he added.

Independent Senator Haji Momin Khan Afridi who participated in the meeting said the number of Afghans who got married in Pakistan should also be considered.

Mr Kakar, showing his annoyance, said that Pakistani nationality was being given to residents of 15 countries including India and China but it was unfortunate that Pakistan was unwilling to give nationality to those born in Pakistan.

Afghans living in Pakistan were not only working in professions such as in agriculture and mining but providing the country with much needed foreign remittances sent in by their relatives living abroad, added Mr Kakar.

At the end of the meeting, the committee suggested not to send Afghans back to Afghanistan by force and also sought details of Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020