ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Friday that a comprehensive policy on Afghan refugees’ repatriation would be finalised by August and submitted to the cabinet for approval.

Minister of States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch told the upper house during the question hour that the government was working with the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for early repatriation of the refugees.

He said the repatriation of registered Afghan refugees was guided by the principle of voluntarism as embedded in a tripartite agreement signed between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the UNHCR. The agreement is valid up to Dec 31 this year.

Also read: Afghanistan taking steps for repatriation of 1.6m refugees

The minister said that under a cabinet decision taken on July 25, 2013, the refugees with valid proof of registration cards could stay in Pakistan till Dec 31. However, he added, at the 25th Tripartite Commission meeting held in Islamabad on March 11 this year, the two governments, along with the UNHCR, had reaffirmed their commitment to engagement and coordination for devising a joint comprehensive policy envisaging voluntary returns.

Mr Baloch said the registration process of 1.5 million unregistered Afghan refugees would begin from July 15 this year, adding that the Afghan government had set up a cell in Islamabad to issue passports to them.

He said incentives for each repatriating Afghan refugee had been increased from 150 to 200 dollars. The Afghan government will provide them basic facilities on their return and UNHCR financial assistance.

RAPE CASES: Minister of State for Interior Baleeghur Rahman informed the Senate that as many as 4,960 rape cases had been registered from June 2013 to Feb 2015 across the country.

The statistics shared with the house reveal that only 219 people have been convicted. A total of 6,632 people have been arrested and 3,645 challans submitted during the period under review.

In Punjab, 4,322 rape cases were registered, 5,716 arrested, 3,040 challans submitted and 209 convicted.

In Sindh, 328 rape cases were registered, 409 arrested and 226 challans submitted. Only four people were convicted while 194 cases are pending before different courts.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 215 rape cases were registered, 378 accused arrested and 235 challans submitted. Only two people were convicted while the rest were either under trial or acquitted. In Peshawar district, 17 cases were registered and 24 persons arrested, but none of the cases could go to court.

In Balochistan, 29 cases were registered, 63 accused arrested and 58 challans submitted. Four people were convicted and 11 cases are under trial.

In Islamabad, 39 rape cases were registered and all the accused arrested and challans submitted. No conviction took place and the accused were acquitted in six cases.

In AJK, 22 cases were registered, 33 arrests made and 42 challans submitted. No one was convicted.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, five cases were registered and eight arrests made. All the cases are under trial.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2015

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