KARACHI, Jan 5: Of an estimated 2.5 million Afghan nationals currently sheltering in Pakistan, some 57 per cent are unwilling to go back to their war-ravaged homeland.

More than 2.8 million Afghans have been repatriated from Pakistan with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2002 while some 2.5 million Afghans are still there, said a UNHCR report, citing the latest census conducted by the Pakistan government and the UNHCR.

The report said that conflict and persecution did force the Afghans into exile, but these were no longer the reasons for their continued stay in Pakistan. In fact, many of them are reluctant to get back because they are well-established here and do not want relocation. Others are frightened by the customary tribal conflicts back home, or are too poor to turn over a new leaf in a country which is still riven with infighting.

“A year back, I went to Afghanistan along with my family and stayed there in a village of Baghlan for three months. Failing to find jobs there, we decided to return to Karachi,” said Saifullah Khan, a refugee employed with a carpet manufacturing factory located in Afghan Basti.

“Now, I don’t want to go back as I and my brothers are happy here,” said Khan, 17, who grew up in Karachi and has his parents, three brothers and four sisters living here with him.

A visit to the makeshift camps established for Afghan refugees in the environs of Karachi revealed that most of the Afghan families were unwilling to return to their homeland due to uncertain law and order situation and poor economic conditions. Reasoning that there were no jobs in Afghanistan, they believe they could live with peace in Pakistan.

According to provincial and city government officials, about 400,000 Afghans are living in various localities of Karachi and its suburbs.

The metropolis has two camps providing refuge to a large number of Afghans. One of them called ‘Afghan Basti’ is located at Al Asif Square in Sohrab Goth off Super Highway and the other one in Surjani Town off the newly-constructed Northern Bypass. The two camps have more than 3,000 houses, most of which are made of mud-bricks.

Besides, Koochi camp near Toll Plaza on Super Highway and Faquira Goth in the Sachal area also accommodate small populations of Afghan refugees.

Presenting a picture of dereliction, these refugees’ settlements look like any downtrodden area of Afghanistan. Dotted with huts and hovels put together with the help of bamboos and bricks laced with mud, these settlements are far from meeting basic living standards. Even the concrete structures have been erected without a proper planning. Most of the streets are too narrow for a small car to enter.

With their parents not believing in the importance of education, children are seen playing outside barefooted almost right through the day. Covered from head to toe, a few women are also seen out of their houses.

Safeer Khan, an elderly refugee who came to Pakistan when the former USSR invaded Afghanistan in late 1970s, said that he had got Pakistan’s citizenship and lived in the Surjani Town camp.

Speaking Urdu with a Pashto accent, he said almost half of the refugees living in the Surjani Town camp left for Afghanistan voluntarily, but many of them returned to Karachi.

“The place offers no jobs, no security, no law and order and no peace of mind,” he said of Afghanistan.

According to the UNHCR, the percentage of voluntary repatriation in 2006 has fallen significantly in comparison with previous years. Only 22 per cent of the refugees have described ‘security concerns’ as their reason for not returning to Afghanistan, but the latest census revealed that a majority of those originating from the border provinces were not willing to go back soon.

Consequently, the UNHCR has started discussions with the government to move from traditional basic assistance exclusively for Afghans to local development initiatives in refugee-affected areas that would also benefit the Pakistani population.

The process of the registration of Afghans comes as a follow-up to the Pakistan government's census which tried to ‘fix’ the Afghan population in the country for the first time since they fled the Soviet invasion in 1979.

Only Afghans who were enumerated in the census can be registered. They receive 'proof of registration' cards valid for three years that recognise them as Afghan citizens temporarily living in Pakistan. The card provides them with official documentation for the first time in exile, and will also be linked to new return arrangements starting in March this year.

Over 63 per cent of those registered so far are in the NWFP, over 17 per cent in Balochistan, 12 per cent in Punjab, seven per cent in Sindh and less than one per cent in Azad Kashmir.