It has never been the policy of Pakistan to expel or force Afghan refugees to go back. Pakistan has hosted the Afghan refugees out of goodwill and a sense of brotherhood for nearly 40 years. Contrary to the false propaganda spread by certain factions in both countries, in a recent unofficial meeting of visiting Afghan Beyond Boundaries delegation last month, Pakistan’s SAFRON Minister explicitly clarified that Afghan refugees have never been involved in any terrorist attacks or organized crime in Pakistan, stated senior journalist Tahir Khan.
He was speaking at the 10th Pak-Afghan Youth Dialogue at the Center for Research & Security Studies (CRSS) as the Chief Guest on ‘Afghan Refugees: Historical Background & Way Forward’ held on Wednesday, March, 28, 2018. Participants included young Afghans and Pakistanis from Mazar-i-Sharif, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Kabul, Swat, Bannu, Lahore, Quetta and Rawalpindi.
He also added that, due to the urgency of the issue, Afghan senior officials who were also part of the delegation informed that Afghan CEO Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and President Ashraf Ghani had recently made pledges to bring back Afghan refugees from both Pakistan and Iran in the next two years, as a priority for the Afghan government. At the moment, he stated, Pakistan has 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR statistics, while about 1 million are unregistered and undocumented, out of which about 900,000 have been documented and issued Afghan Citizenship Card.
Tahir Khan mentioned that Pakistan has recently extended the deadline for the repatriation of refugees to June 30th, 2018. However, during the recent meeting of the Pak-Afghan delegations, the Afghan officials as well as the SAFRON Minister had informed us that Afghanistan was working on a proposal to set a realistic and feasible timeframe of about two years for their complete repatriation.
Tahir Khan further informed the participants that in 2016, UNHCR provided a repatriation package which included $200 per returning refugee; he also mentioned that this has now been raised to $400 according to UNHCR latest figures. Under this plan, 640,000 Afghans voluntarily returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan. Of those, 70% have reported to be satisfied with their living conditions there and contributing to the different sectors of Afghan Economy.
Aized Ali, who was moderating the session, apprised the participants about the ongoing CRSS Pak-Afghan Track 1.5/II Initiative ‘Beyond Boundaries’ which is aimed at improving bilateral relations and bridging the gulf of mistrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also told the participants that Mr. Khan is also a member of CRSS’ Pak-Afghan Track 1.5/II Initiative, Beyond Boundaries Phase III. Mentioning the successes of returning refugees, as an example, he noted that from the Afghan Beyond Boundaries group two distinguished members, who grew up and studied in Pakistan, on their return to Afghanistan joined the Afghan government and served as deputy ministers. He further added that the Afghans who are living here as refugees, have been contributing positively to the economy of Pakistan. They have successfully developed businesses, invested in property, created employment opportunities, and as well as working in the goods and services sectors. These entrepreneurial Afghans have kept their wealth in Pakistani banks, which benefits Pakistan’s financial economy. Later, he opened the floor for Q & A session.
Speaking during the open discussion, the young Afghan participants thanked the Pakistani people for offering them their homes and allowing them freedom of movement in Pakistan. They also thanked the Government of Pakistan for allowing them educational and economic opportunities, stating that, unlike Iran where Afghan refugees were restricted to their camps, Pakistan did otherwise.
However, they requested that any forced repatriation in a very short duration of time may damage the goodwill that had been built in the hearts of the people after all these four decades, and hence the time frame given to the repatriation of Afghan refugees should be extended to five years.
Participants were of the view that those Afghans who have lived in Pakistan for more than twenty years should be considered for Pakistani citizenship. Aized Ali stated that as a think tank, CRSS Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II Dialogue Beyond Boundaries has also advocated the naturalization of Afghans born and those living in Pakistan for more than 20 years. In this regard, he quoted CRSS’ Executive Director Imtiaz Gul recent article published in Daily Times (read here).
Furthermore, the discussion focused on achieving peace in the region and the role of the youth in this regard, ending on the note that Pakistan takes the Afghan refugees as a humanitarian issue, and not a political one. The dialogue concluded with the hope that PM Abbasi’s expected visit next month in response to President Ghani’s invitation to visit Kabul could further smoothen the process of resolving issues such as Afghan refugees’ repatriation process, and generally will help normalizing bilateral relations.
At the end of the dialogue, Aized Ali presented a shield of appreciation to the Chief Guest and also nominated Afghan participant Muhammad Usman as the Pak-Afghan Youth Ambassador for the month of March 2018. Mr. Tahir Khan Presented the shield to the Youth Ambassador. The session concluded with a group photo.
This was the 10th Pak-Afghan youth dialogue under CRSS’ Afghan Studies Center initiative which is focused on bringing together the youth of Pakistan and Afghanistan on one platform and creating a better understanding between the two neighbors and seeking solutions for their mutual challenges.