Pakistan is putting pressure on the estimated 2.8 million Afghan registered and unregistered refugees [ http://www.irinnews.org/In-depth/94954/95/From-pillar-to-post-the-plight-of-Afghans-abroad ] to return to their homeland by the end of 2012.
The government has said it will not renew the ID cards of the 1.8 million registered Afghan refugees.
Habibullah Khan, secretary in the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, told the media [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/20/pakistan-revoke-afghan-refugee-status ]: “The international community desires us to review this policy but we are clear on this point. The refugees have become a threat to law and order, security, demography, economy and local culture. Enough is enough.
“After 31 December 2012, there is no plan to extend the validity of the POR [proof of registration] cards of Afghan refugees. Those currently registered will lose the status of refugees. They will be treated under the law of the land. The provincial governments have already been asked to treat the existing unregistered refugees as illegal immigrants.”
Asylum space is narrowing given that the government of Pakistan is pretty serious about returning most of them to Afghanistan,” said Aamir Fawad, protection officer with the UNHCR. “We are talking to the government to extend, but it is unclear what will happen.”
In June 2012, Pakistan agreed to delay the forced repatriation of 400,000 Afghans who were rounded up in Peshawar for being in the country illegally.
There is increased pressure [ http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?indepthid=95&reportid=94957 ] on them to either move to camps or repatriate. Every day, people are being harassed by the security officials. Those living in refugee villages are facing pressure from landlords as well. Yet at the same time, the situation in Afghanistan is not attractive for return.
One really wonders about the veracity of the two-nation theory in such circumstances. If Muslims form one nation, then why can’t Pakistan accept these Afghans as part of its nation?
Filed under: Afghanistan, Pakistan Tagged: | Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan
