Time for repatriation of Afghan Refugees

What international community is doing for the Afghan Refugees (ARs) in Pakistan is just peanuts, with the result that presence of the Afghans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province puts a strain on its infrastructure and its fragile economy. During the Afghan war in early 1980s and later in war on terror, millions of refugees had crossed over to Pakistan, which had impacted Pakistan’s economy, and also led to Kalashnikov and drug culture. It has to be mentioned that many undesirable elements disguised as refugees are involved in crimes like murder, taking people ransom for money and drug trafficking, which has created enormous problems for Pakistan. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has not been able to make progress on repatriation of about three million Afghan refugees that are living Pakistan, as the deadline for the repatriation ended on 31st December 2015.
On Saturday, a senior UN official has urged Pakistan to resolve the status of more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan whose registration cards have expired or who remain unregistered. Of course, Europe has grappled with the exodus of people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan; but European countries have the capacity to absorb them, as they have had manpower shortages due to low birth rate. However, Pakistan hosts the world’s largest long-term refugee population, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), most of whom are Afghans. In December 2015, registration cards providing temporary legal stay to more than 1.6 million Afghan refugees expired, and were granted a six-month extension by the government. UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner George Okoth-Obbo said his agency was engaged in “continuing discussions” with the Pakistani government to resolve the population’s uncertain situation.
Last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had requested Pakistan to review its December 31 deadline for the repatriation of Afghan refugees from the country after staying there for more than three decades. UNHCR chief António Guterres during his visit to Pakistan had called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and also held talks with Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said: “Pakistan took care of Afghan refugees as a sacred duty and their return with dignity is a priority for the government.” Since President Ashraf Ghani has been at the helm, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan improved considerably; and sincere efforts were being made to bring peace to war-torn country. But some elements in Afghan government are throwing spanner in the works.
The time has come that international community should focus on repatriation of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan. The US/NATO and Afghan government had entered into a strategic treaty through signing of Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA). In this milieu it should have also been binding on both the parties to resolve the issue of millions of Afghan Refugees (ARs). The UN and its subsidiary organizations like UNHCR must come forward to take up the matter with the US, NATO and EU member countries to arrange repatriation of ARs to their homeland instead of pressurizing Pakistan to review their status. In the overview of 2015 UNHCR country operations profile Afghanistan, it was expected that the newly-formed national unity Government would demonstrate commitment to create an enabling environment for sustainable return of Afghan refugees; but to no avail.
Officially, the year 2015 marked the end of the agreement that Pakistan had with Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which allowed Afghan refugees to stay in Pakistan. In June 2015, Pakistan Foreign Office had said that it would like the UNHCR and international community to help the Afghan government to create necessary environment inside Afghanistan so that these people can return. Instead of asking the UNHCR and Afghan government to take steps for the repatriation of refugees, Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) had advised Pakistan to ease the uncertain and insecure lives of the millions of Afghan refugees on its territory. It asked Pakistan to sign and ratify the 1951 Refugees Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Until it does, it should enact a national law for refugees codifying long-term protection and rights.
International community should realize that for more than three decades, the government and the people of Pakistan have provided shelter and assistance to these refugees who are settled throughout Pakistan. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), some 1.6 million Afghans are legally residing in Pakistan, having been granted proof of registration (PoR) by the U.N. body. More than twice that number is believed to be unlawfully dwelling here, primarily in the northern tribal belt that borders Afghanistan. Most of them arrived during the Soviet invasion of 1979, as the chaos of war forced millions of Afghans out of their embattled nation and over the mountainous border that stretches for some 2,700 km along rocky terrain.