During a recent visit to the Haripur-based Afghan refugee camps and background interviews with the refugees it was observed that none of the refugees, particularly those who have established their businesses or are earning handsomely in Pakistan, was willing to go back to their country.
“How can I trust these warlords who had broken Quranic oath in Kaaba and again started killing of their own brothers,” said Aziz Ullah Khan, a vegetable vendor, adding that the track record of the Afghan warlords was not good enough to justify their return to Afghanistan.
To a question, he expressed his resentment over calling Afghan refugees as Mohajirs and justified his anger by saying that all Afghans living in the Frontier province had strong religious and ethnic links with those settled in the NWFP.
“We are still repenting on what we did by returning to our homes in the era of Najibullah and Burhanuddin Rabbani,” said Ismail Khan, an Afghan refugee, adding that they had wound up their business and went to Afghanistan but within a short span of time they had to come back because of heavy fighting between forces loyal to Gulbadin Hekmatyar and his opponents.
He said that when they returned to Pakistan they paid a heavy price and suffered for a long time to establish themselves again here.
He termed the present setup in Afghanistan as fickle and prone to disintegration and feared more infighting once the US-led coalition forces had left the country.
Another refugee, Tahir, said that a majority of Afghan refugees living in the camp had passed over two decades in Pakistan and their second generation had grown older and speaking the same dialect of Pushto and even Hindko.
“As international laws also permit us to be granted Pakistan nationality we should be considered as legitimate citizens of Pakistan,” claimed Mr Sibghatullah, a teacher at a camp school.
He was of the view that the present condition of Afghanistan did not permit the refugees to go back provided the Pakistan government did not force them. He further said that these Afghan refugees had invested their hard-earned money in various businesses in Pakistan and rearing their families themselves rather than becoming a burden on the Pakistan economy or dependent on foreign aids.
Therefore, to repatriate them forcibly would be an unjust decision of the Pakistan government, he added.