Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch has once again reiterated Pakistan’s stand regarding the repatriation of Afghan refuges and said that refugees will not be forcibly repatriated and it will happen only voluntarily.

He was addressing a meeting of Afghan refugee elders residing in Pakistan. The UN refugee agency UNHCR hosted the event, which was attended by Afghanistan’s Minister of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) Sayed Hossein Alimi Balkhi, UNHCR’s representative in Pakistan Indrika Ratwatte and Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan.

During the meeting, representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR expressed their resolve to empower Afghan refugees in Pakistan and to proactively work towards their voluntary repatriation and sustainable reintegration in Afghanistan.

Speaking at the occasion, Abdul Qadir Baloch said that the government of Pakistan was committed to continue working closely with the government of Afghanistan and the UNHCR to ensure sustainable voluntary returns in safety and dignity.

He referred to the tripartite commission meeting, which was held on Tuesday in Bhurban, Murree, and said that it aimed at solving any problem related to the refugees jointly by Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR.

He said that Pakistan had been hosting Afghan refugees for 37 years.

He said that despite those initially hosted five million refugees, the country now hosts another 1.5 million registered and a similar number of unregistered Afghans.