Facilitating Repatriation

Repatriation grant for Afghan refugees significantly increased after a meeting between Pakistani, UNHCR officials

Islamabad: Afghan refugees in Pakistan with Proof of Registration (PoR) cards will be offered a repatriation grant of $700 per family, in addition to the existing grant of $375 awarded to individuals, in order to have a sustainable life in Afghanistan after repatriation.

Understanding of this effect was gained during a meeting earlier this month between concerned Pakistani officials and UNHCR officials, which aimed to expedite the process of repatriating Afghan refugees to their home country.

The UNHCR previously increased the repatriation package for Afghan refugees from $250 to $375 per person.

To increase the repatriation grant even further, Pakistani authorities met with UNHCR officials, and now Afghan refugees will be offered $700 per family by the UNHCR, in addition to the $375 grant that is already available under the voluntary repatriation programme.

An official from the Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, Ministry of SAFRON, revealed this in response to a question to Bol News about the repatriation of Afghan refugees.

According to the official, who declined to be identified, this scheme of repatriation is valid for all refugees who have PoR cards and want to take advantage of the voluntary repatriation scheme.

It is important to note that there are 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan with PoR cards. Meanwhile, many Afghan refugees do not have this card facility and have been issued Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) cards instead of PoR cards.

In Pakistan, approximately 0.8 million Afghan refugees have been issued ACC cards, which serve as another form of identification for Afghan refugees.

According to the official, ACC card holders have been offered a package of incentives linked to their repatriation under the bilateral agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan. As per the bilateral agreement, they were supposed to be granted passports on a preferential basis by the Afghan government, and after obtaining visas, they could visit Pakistan whenever they wanted.

ACC card holders, on the other hand, are supposed to be repatriated to their home country within a specific time frame.

The PoR cards were renewed during a recent drive, and the refugees were given these smart cards by the NADRA.

The primary goal of issuing ACC cards to other Afghan refugees was to protect them from harassment while they were in Pakistan.

There are 54 camps in total, with 32 percent of refugees with PoR cards staying in them and 68 percent living in urban facilities. The UNHCR is collaborating with Pakistani authorities on the issue of PoR cards.

According to data compiled by the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, 51 percent of refugees reside in KP, 25 percent in Balochistan, 13.8 percent in Punjab, and 5.6 percent in Sindh. The registration of refugees began in 2006, and some drives have recently been launched to improve the documentation of these refugees.

The UNHCR defines the PoR card as an identity document for Afghan refugees that allows them to legally remain in Pakistan. The card is valid all over Pakistan, and it is critical that registered Afghans carry their PoR cards with them at all times and present them to law enforcement on demand.

Furthermore, according to the UNHCR, Afghans who have never held a PoR card, including family members of PoR cardholders, are not entitled to PoR card issuance.

The PoR cards must be verified by NADRA and allow an Afghan refugee to open a bank account, rent a home, obtain a SIM card, and so on, according to the UNHCR website.

The UNHCR repatriation grant has been extremely beneficial in encouraging refugees to return to Afghanistan.

So far, 4.3 million people have been repatriated to Afghanistan, making it the world’s largest repatriation.

According to available data in 2016, approximately 381,000 Afghans benefited from the repatriation scheme, which is also phenomenal in terms of numbers. Hazrat Umar Zakhilwal, the former Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, was instrumental in this repatriation process by encouraging refugees to return to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the repatriation process in Afghanistan has been severely harmed as a result of the regime change, with fewer Afghan refugees opting to be repatriated.

Only 5,800 refugees were repatriated to Afghanistan in 2022, according to available data, and just 451 used the scheme in 2021.

Meanwhile, the amnesty scheme for Afghan refugees is coming to an end, and they will begin to face the consequences after the scheme’s deadline expires.

A few months ago, the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan, declared general amnesty for overstaying foreigners and gave them until December 31st to leave Pakistan. “If these foreigners use this facility, they will not be charged for overstaying in Pakistan, and no legal action will be taken against them.”

“They can apply through the Pakistan Online Visa System (POVS) and leave Pakistan once they have obtained the exit permit,” stated an advertisement.

The ministry also highlighted the consequences of foreigners overstaying in Pakistan in a newspaper advertisement, which could result in a three-year sentence. It warned these foreigners that if they overstayed for more than a year after December 31st, legal action would be taken against them, and they would also be blacklisted for future entry into Pakistan.

As the deadline in this case approaches, a number of Afghan refugees are concerned about their future in Pakistan.

They believe that the Pakistani government should continue to treat them with the same kindness that it has shown over the past several decades.

During an interview with Bol News, Saeeda Khalili, an Afghan national who is also a student at a university in Islamabad, urged the Pakistani government to reconsider its deadline for the repatriation of Afghan refugees. She stated that some refugees do not wish to return to Afghanistan for the time being due to the formation of a new government. She said that the refugees are concerned about the consequences of forced repatriation.

“Afghan refugees should be allowed to stay in Pakistan until Afghanistan’s situation improves. Since August 15, when the regime changed, many Afghans have fled to Pakistan,” she added.

She stated that the majority of these people lack legal documents and that their cases must be handled sympathetically on humanitarian grounds. She further said that immigrants who have been living in Pakistan for many years due to various problems expect Pakistan to offer them citizenship. She also stated that they expect Pakistan to pay attention to migrants’ livelihoods and accommodations while adhering to some international conventions.

According to Aysha Ahmadi, another migrant, after Afghanistan’s regime changed, approximately 200,000 Afghans chose to migrate to Pakistan. She maintained that these immigrants require PoR cards in order to remain legally in Pakistan.

“Afghanistan is still not at peace. Girls’ schools have been closed, and there are a number of other issues compelling Afghan immigrants to stay in Pakistan longer,” she noted.

She also mentioned that law enforcement has begun a crackdown on Afghan refugees, and that several such individuals have been arrested, with one Afghan national dying in a Karachi prison in an unfortunate incident, and his body had been lying in a mortuary for 14 days.