QUETTA: Head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) sub-office in Quetta, Erwin Policar has cautioned that fresh batches of Afghan refugees could come to Pakistan after complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, he said Pakistan was the largest refugee host country in the world as it was already hosting 1.4 million Afghan refugees. “We cannot rule out a fresh influx of Afghan refugees after foreign forces exit from Afghanistan.” He noted that out of 1.4m Afghan refugees, 335,000 were living in Balochistan.

In reply to a question, the UN official said that information about the influx of new Afghan refugees was pouring through the media and it could not be ruled out. However, the policy decision about allowing more Afghan refugees would be taken by the government of Pakistan, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2021