Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The army said on Thursday that the US drone strike on January 24 targeted an individual, who had “morphed into” Afghan refugees in a tribal region, disputing earlier reports that the spy aircraft hit a sanctuary.

Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal also reiterated on Thursday his condemnation of the January 24 drone strike in Kurram Agency, carried out by the US-led Resolute Support Mission (RSM), which, he said, struck an Afghan refugee camp.

US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire, however; disagreed with the foreign ministry’s assertion.

“The claim in an MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) statement yesterday that US forces struck an Afghan refugee camp in Kurram Agency yesterday is false,” the US embassy spokesman told Daily Times.

The military said the drone strike on January 24 was on individual target, who had “morphed into Afghan refugees and not any organised terrorist sanctuary.”

The military and foreign office statements about the refugee camps came weeks after the federal cabinet on January 3 granted only one month extension to the registered Afghan refugees, whose Proof of Registration (PoR) cards had expired on December 31.

The cabinet had also decided that the issue of early repatriation of Afghan refugees should be raised with the UN refugee agency and with the international community as “Pakistan’s economy had carried the burden of hosting Afghan refugees since long and in the present circumstances could not sustain it further.”

The PoR card holders can stay until January 31 and the Afghan officials have expressed concern over the short stay and want at least one-year extension. Afghan ambassador in Islamabad Omar Zakhilwal on Wednesday met Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Minister of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), which also deals with the Afghan refugees.

Ambassador Zakhilwal said on his Twitter he discussed “issues related to Afghan refugees in Pakistan including preparations for the resumption of the refugees’ return and repatriation process as well as other recent developments.”

The UN refugee agency and Afghan diplomat say Pakistan still hosts nearly 2.4 million refugees, almost half are un-registered. The documentation process of the unregistered refugees is underway and an Afghan diplomat had earlier told Daily Time that nearly 70,000 unregistered refugees had been documented until last week.

Afghanistan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) says Pakistan had agreed to extend the stay of Afghan refugees by one more year in the country at a trilateral meeting held in Turkey in December 2017. However, the cabinet agreed on only one-month extension apparently due to tension with the US over claims that Afghan militants live in Pakistan.

Senior Pakistani officials insist that the Afghan militants are taking advantage of the refugee camps.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told a private TV channel last month that militants, who come from the Afghan side of the border, had “transit into the camps of Afghan refugees and later they keep on changing positions and relocate.” He had also called for repatriation of the refugees and pushed the Trump administration to spend money on the repatriation and resettlement of the refugees in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan deputy ambassador in Islamabad Zardasht Shams, who also accompanied ambassador Zakhilwal, told Daily Times in an earlier interview that Pakistan’s decision to repatriate nearly 1.4 million registered refugees in a month time is “practically impossible” to implement.

“We are seriously concerned at the decision. We have requested Pakistan to extend the stay of refugees by end 2018. But at the same time we are asking refugees to be ready for repatriation,” Shams said. He warned the refugees they could face “harassment” by the police after their PoR cards expire.

The UNHCR has also showed concern about Pakistan’s decision and questioned as to “how the decision to extend the PoR cards for a one-month period may affect the almost 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.”

Qaisar Khan Afridi, spokesman for UNHCR in Islamabad, says there are nearly 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan who “face an uncertain future concerning their continued stay.”

“This decision also seemingly runs counter to the conclusions of the 29th Tripartite Commission meeting held on 30 November 2017 which emphasised the need for a further at least one year extension of the PoR cards,” he said in a statement.

“UNHCR acknowledges Pakistan’s generosity in hosting one of the world’s largest protracted refugee populations for almost four decades. UNHCR calls for international support of the Pakistani government’s efforts to continue to host the almost 1.4 million Afghan refugees currently residing in Pakistan,” Afridi said.

Published in Daily Times, January 26^th 2018.