Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated more than 377,749 Afghan refugees to their homeland from Pakistan. Due to the winter season, they have suspended the repatriation of refugees and will resume the process from 1st March, 2017, except those prescheduled for repatriation.

UNHCR spokesman Asif Shehzad told Daily Times that UNHCR temporarily suspended the repatriation due to the winter break and will resume it in March. He said that only those refugees will be facilitated and processed who were prescheduled with UNHCR for the voluntary repatriation from Pakistan to Afghanistan. The spokesman of UNHCR said that this year, from January 1 until 10 November, some 58,945 registered Afghan families had facilitated through voluntary repatriation programme for returning to Afghanistan.

“We have repatriated as many as 304,881 registered refugees from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 36,139 from Punjab, 28,132 from Balochistan, 5,449 from Islamabad, 2,690 from Sindh, and 458 from Azad Kashmir as of November 2016,” Shehzad said. He said that with the improvement in weather and the increase in cash grant from $200 to $400 per person, the number of families returning is increasing.

The spokesman said the repatriation was at its peak during the last three months. In November, 43,932 were repatriated. October, September and August saw 148,692, 97,808 and 67,060 refugees respectively repatriated to Afghanistan. He said the UNHCR facilitated the return of over 4.1 million registered Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan under its voluntary repatriation programme since 2002 and almost 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees are still residing in Pakistan.

Shehzad said that the UNHCR’s mandate in Pakistan only covers registered Afghan refugees, with valid Proof of Registration (PoR) cards that stay/reside within the boundaries of the country of asylum. He said that it had also been noted that the PoR, issued by the Government of Pakistan to registered Afghan refugees, is an important protection document, which entitles its holder to stay in Pakistan until 31 March 2017 and it ensures that the refugees have freedom of movement within Pakistan. PoR card is not an international travel document and thus cannot be used as a visa/passport to cross international border between two countries.