- People who choose to return voluntarily are being rejected only.
- Afghan families are being hosted in two holding centers in KP.
- According to UNHCR, there are 2.1 million documents in Pakistan.
Peshawar: The process of mapping of unspecified foreigners and Afghan civil card (ACC) holders is currently going on in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but after the assurance of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandhapur, no strict measures are being taken that no Afghan national will be forcibly resurrected, Reports Informed
According to a police officer, no action has been initiated against Afghan families in any part of the province. The option to return voluntarily is being assisted by the officials concerned.
“Mapping is running in various parts of the provincial capital,” Senior Police Operations Superintendent Masood Ahmed Bangash said ReportsThe federal government had ordered the repatriation of foreigners, unspecified and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders after the March 31 deadline. Report has started from Punjab, Sindh and the federal capital through Torkham.
Afghan families from other provinces are being temporarily hosted at two holding centers in Peshawar and Khyber before their repatriation in Afghanistan. However, the police and administration in KP have not yet been ordered by the Provincial Government to take any action against the ACC holders.
“We have been instructed by seniors that no one will be forced to leave. Only those who want to leave voluntarily are being rejected,” said an official.
There are innumerable videos on social media, in which the families voluntarily returned after decades in Pakistan were given emotional farewell by the local people. Many Afghans living in Pakistan for nearly 45 years have developed close ties with the local people, and some have also tied a knot with the local people. Many cases of such families are also in courts.
According to the United Nations High Commission for refugees, Pakistan has 2.1 million documented Afghans, and most of them have settled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of 2.1 million, there are more than 800,000 ACC holders, while the registration (POR) is evidence of the card in about 1.3 million.
Despite no action in KP, there are many families who have started packing for their motherland due to an uncertain future after spending more than four decades in Pakistan.
They include thousands of people who were born in Pakistan and have visited their country throughout their life. Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghans for nearly five decades since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
While hundreds of families have returned to their country in the last few years, more than 2.1 million are still living in KP and other provinces. Some government departments have increased the number of Afghans in Pakistan to more than three million.
These have not included unspecified foreigners, as well as those who are said to receive Pakistani documents. UNHCR has recently expressed its concern about the process.
“UNHCR is concerned about the latest instructions, because among the Afghan citizen card holders, there may be individuals requiring international security. In that light, we are urging the government to see their position through a human lens,” said UNHCR spokesman Qaiser Khan Afridi.
