Friday, May 04, 2007
84pc Afghans donât plan to return home 
ISLAMABAD: A vast majority of the 2 million-plus Afghan refugees in Pakistan do not intend to return home, mostly because of security fears, but Pakistan still plans to repatriate them all within three years, officials said on Thursday.
The government is pushing for the refugees to go back to Afghanistan largely in response to international criticism over cross-border attacks by Taliban militants who Pakistan says often shelter in refugee camps. But the escalating conflict in Afghanistan, where about 1,300 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, and the lack of land and services for returnees, has raised doubts about whether the plans are feasible.
A report issued on Thursday on a recent UN-supported registration of Afghan refugees found that 84 percent do not intend to return. Of those, 41 percent cited insecurity as the primary reason â double the figure recorded during a refugee census in 2005. Sajid Hussain Chatta, a senior official at the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, said the government was sticking to its target for all the refugees to be repatriated on a voluntary basis by 2009. âWe have no reasons to believe that we will shift our policy,â Chatta told reporters after the reportâs release. âWe hope the situation in Afghanistan will improve.â
He said 200,000 had already gone back during 2007 and it was planned for 600,000 more to return by yearâs end, although those plans were still being discussed with officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Four camps â housing more than 220,000 refugees â would close by September, he said. One of the first camps slated to close, Pir Alizai in Balochistan, houses about 36,000 people, many of them holding Pakistani ID cards. Officials have described it as a hub for militants and drug traffickers.
Some 2.1 million refugees joined the 15-week registration process, which entitles them to stay in Pakistan until December 2009. Of the 300,000 who did not sign up, 200,000 have since gone back to Afghanistan. Those remaining face deportation. Guenet Guebre-Christos, the UNCHR representative in Pakistan, said repatriation should be gradual and take into account the âabsorption capacityâ of Afghanistan. âIt has to be voluntary. The people have to decide for themselves if the situation is conducive for them to return,â she said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\04\story_4-5-2007_pg7_1
