PESHAWAR, Dec 7: Though the warring Afghan factions have signed a power-sharing agreement in Bonn, Afghan refugees living in Pakistan seem in no mood to go back to their country.

The prevailing uncertainty, harsh weather, unemployment and non-availability of basic needs are major factors which discourage the refugees to go back to their homeland. The presence of millions of land-mines and unexploded bombs and missiles are also considered one of the major hurdles in their return to the war-torn country.

Abdur Rauf, a 55-year-old Afghan carpenter, has been living in Nasir Bagh refugee camp, near Peshawar, for the last 13 years. He said that despite the Bonn accord Afghans were not sure about peace in their country.

“I will be the first person to go back to my country along with my family if I find a flicker of hope for peace. In the current situation life will be very tough in Afghanistan, because there is no employment opportunities, no business and no shelter and food. From where these millions of people will feed their children if they go back to Afghanistan, he questioned.

Despite all agonies and difficulties Raouf is determined for repatriation to his country when spring comes.

During a visit to a bazaar near a refugee camp, many displaced Afghans told this scribe that they were not sure about restoration of peace in Afghanistan and feared that their leaders would dishonour the recently-signed agreement as they did in the past.

One refugee Naeem Khan said that he was only two-year-old when his parents crossed into Pakistan. Till today, he said, he never received any good news from Afghanistan, so how this accord could guarantee peace? he asked.

He said that there was no guarantee of life in his country, besides this he had no money to start business in Jalalabad, although life was very tough in Pakistan also.

But many refugees said they would wait till the spring. They said that if situation became normal and stability prevailed then they would leave Pakistan for good. “Let first come Hamid Karzai to Kabul, then the refugees would return to their country,” maintained Zair Gul.

Senior officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the agency was not in a hurry to start voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan before spring. They said that they were closely watching the political developments in Afghanistan following the power-sharing deal in Bonn.

UNHCR emergency coordinator Jacques Franquin told Dawn that the agency was working out a plan for large scale repatriation of refugees from Pakistan. He said that the UNHCR was likely to start repatriation by the end of March, 2002, if the situation remained normal in Kabul.

Afghan Commissionerate officials in Peshawar said that despite fresh developments which resulted in the fall of the Taliban government, Islamabad had yet to chalk out policy guidelines regarding repatriation of Afghan refugees.

A senior UNHCR official, while commenting over of the repatriation of refugees, said: “There is no such example in the world that refugees go back to their country. Hardly 30 per cent of the Afghan refugees can return to their country.”