KARACHI, June 20: An uncertain future rooted in a painful past that branches out into a present filled with a deep sense of despair, is perhaps how the life of a refugee can best be described.

Pakistan has been playing host to the single-largets refugee population in the world, mainly due to the sea of Afghans that fled their homeland following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

According to a report recently compiled by the Pakistan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 2.153 million registered Afghan refugees, also known as displaced persons (DPs), in the country.

Around 55 per cent of the total refugee population belongs to Nangarhar province. The rest belong to Kabul, Kunduz, Logar and Paktia provinces.

The city of Karachi has become somewhat of a nucleus for these refugees, as according to official figures around 400,000 Afghans are living in various parts of the city.

Naturally, life as a refugee is an uphill task for these Afghans as most of them are forced to do menial jobs on a daily basis for their survival.

Interestingly, when the entire world was observing the World Refugee Day on June 20, most of the Afghan refugees in the city were unaware of such an event and were busy making ends meet.

To streamline the repatriation process currently under way, all those registered Afghans above the age of five are being issued Proof of Registration (PoR) cards recognising them as Afghan citizens temporarily living in Pakistan. These cards are valid till December 2009.

However, a visit to Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth, where many of Karachi’s Afghan refugees are concentrated, revealed that most of the Afghan nationals were unaware of the true nature of these cards.

“This is an identity card issued to the people of Afghan origin,” said Ismatullah when questioned about the nature of the card.

Ismat, a young Afghan man in his late twenties, was born in Kunduz but migrated to Pakistan at the tender age of six in 1983. He has no memories of his birthplace.

“I do not wish to leave Pakistan. But if I am forced to do so there will be no option left,” he said.

Ghulam Nabi, also hailing from Kunduz, said that it would be very difficult for the refugees to return to Afghanistan as there was no shelter, a lack of opportunities and above all security issues that worried most Afghans.

In an innocent manner, he requested this writer to ask the Pakistan government to issue him a CNIC instead of a PoR card so that he could continue living here without any fear.

Mr Nabi said that returning to Afghanistan would be easy only for those people who had the means to survive there. But for a poor family it would be like committing suicide.

Another issue is that many Afghan refugees have yet to receive their PoR cards despite having registered with the authorities concerned. Abdul Ghaffar, Abdullah Hashim, Abdul Karim and Islamuddin all said that they were awaiting the cards despite the fact that their names were enrolled during a recent registration campaign.

They are not aware of the appropriate steps that need to be taken to remedy their situation.

Also, there are some Afghan nationals who, owing to one reason or the other, failed to register themselves during the drive. They want the government to restart the campaign so that those left over can be registered, alleviating fears of any possible crackdown.