QUETTA, April 27: Over 13,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their country from Balochistan under the voluntary repatriation programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since March 15.
"The number of Afghan refugees who returned voluntarily from Pakistan was 74,548 till Monday. An average of 100 families are being repatriated daily from Quetta," Zelmira Sinclair, the head of the UNHCR's Quetta unit, said on Tuesday.
She said the rate of return from Balochistan this year was higher than last year's. In 2003, 76,860 people of 13,966 families were repatriated from Balochistan, she said. A refugee to Kandahar, Mohammad Anwar, said higher wages in Afghanistan was one of the main reasons due to which many Afghans were opting to repatriate. He said the wages here were dropping.
Baseer Ahmed, who was returning to Kabul, said: "We came to Quetta in 1992. I am tired of being a refugee. We had trips back to asses the situation in the past years and this year we have decided to move."
Another refugee, Mohammad Raza, said: "The most important problem for Afghans returning from urban centres is the continuation of the education of their children in Afghanistan. But even then, families are returning to Afghanistan."
Ms Sinclair said the UNHCR had introduced an initiative, facilitated group returns, for those who intending to voluntarily repatriate as a group but problems in Afghanistan hindered the return.
She said elders of such groups were facilitated to visit Afghanistan and the agency tried to resolve their problems. She said the UNHCR had repatriated around 500 families from the country under the scheme.
Investment opportunities: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf on Monday underlined the need for advertising the Gwadar port and other major projects to apprise people in the country and abroad about the vast scope of investment in the province in different sectors.
Talking to Federal Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mehmood, who called on him here, he said: "The press enjoys complete freedom in Balochistan and there are cordial relations between the government and the press." He said the provincial government was taking special interest in resolving the problems of journalists and other staff attached to the newspaper industry.
He said the federal government should increase the advertisement quota for Balochistan newspapers. He called for allocation of separate advertisement quota for Balochistan newspapers regarding Gwadar and other projects so that those could be highlighted in a better way.
He underlined the need for making arrangements for tours of Gwadar and the sites of other important projects by journalists. He said the politicians, newsmen and scholars of the province having a positive approach towards the projects should be given representation in Pakistan Television's discussion and current affairs programmes and important projects of Balochistan should be advertised on TV and radio.
The chief minister said people in a number of remote areas of the province could not watch television programmes due to lack of TV boosters. The secretary assured the CM of the federal government's cooperation for solving the problems of newspaper workers.