LAHORE, June 4: As many as 16,439 Afghans living in Lahore have been registered with the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) so far. According to the statistics, 11,103 of them are males and the remaining are women.

“These are not the only Afghans living in Lahore. There number can be much higher than the registered ones,” says an official of the authority requesting anonymity. He said the authority had relied on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) survey while registering the Afghans. “To get registered with the authority is not mandatory for the Afghans living here,” he clarified.

Though Afghans are living in almost all parts of Lahore, but a majority of them is residing in katchi abadis and deras in localities like Badami Bagah, railway station, Landa Bazaar, walled city, Shahdara, Bund Road, Mughalpura, Ravi Road and Sanda.