ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for over three decades and efforts to repatriate them voluntarily could not bring about the desired results. The economic and security problems faced by it don’t allow the country to care for them anymore.

Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Shaukatullah Khan made these observations while chairing an inter-ministerial meeting on repatriation of Afghan refugees here on Thursday.

Safron secretary Habibullah Khan Khattak, representatives of ministries of law and interior from all provinces and commissioners for Afghan refugees from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad attended the meeting.

Around 5.7 million refugees have voluntarily repatriated to Afghanistan since 2002, which confirms that economic, political and social conditions there are improving, the minister said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan should jointly create awareness among the masses for accelerated repatriation and reintegration of refugees in their homeland, he said. The Pakistani government has devised and shared among all its stakeholders a contingency plan for repatriation of refugees in a dignified and honourable way latest by 2013, he said.