PESHAWAR: Return of registered refugees and undocumented Afghan nationals to their homeland has witnessed slight increase as officials hope that the process would get momentum in coming weeks.

Officials dealing with the issue said that voluntary return of the refugees from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was getting momentum since the federal government had extended stay of refugees till December 2016.

Information collected from different localities of Peshawar and other refugee-hosting areas suggested that unregistered Afghans were vacating houses in urban and semi-urban areas of the province.

They are selling moveable and immoveable properties in Peshawar. Afghan nationals have also put their household items on display to sell these items before proceeding to Afghanistan.

Official says 300 families leave for Afghanistan daily

Additional Commissioner at Afghan Commissionerat Waqar Maroof told Dawn that average 300 refugee families were registering themselves at UN voluntary repatriation centre in Chamkani, Peshawar on daily basis to get cash assistance after reaching their homes in Afghanistan.

“Average 10 families were reporting at VRC Chamkani every day before July. Currently 300 families are returning to Afghanistan on daily basis which is encouraging,” he said, adding that they expected up to 800 families to register themselves daily at the VRC Chamkani in coming days.

He informed that Afghan Commissionerate had deputed staff in all 43 camps and other refugees concentrated areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate return process of the registered Afghans.

The Commissionerate, he said, had also launched mass campaign in camps and other refugee hosting areas to encourage them to go back to their homes under the voluntary repatriation programme before December, 2016.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that 3,371 refugees had gone back to their homes from July 17 to July 23 under voluntary repatriation programme while total 2,691 families (12,309 individuals) had returned to Afghanistan since January last.

Officials said that increase in cash assistance by the UNHCR was major factor that tempted the refugees to leave for their homeland. The UN agency has recently increased the cash assistance for returning refugees from $200 to $400 per head. Only registered refugees are eligible to receive cash assistance after returning to Afghanistan.

“Large numbers of refugees are staying in Pakistan because of livelihood problems and this amount can ease their economic issues,” said an official.

Pakistan is hosting around 1.5 million refugees and their stay was extended till December 2016. Summer is considered peak season for the repatriation of refugees.

The official said that government might give one year extension to registered refugees after December. “Unlike previous extension that will be conditional and they (refugees) will have to leave Pakistan by the end of 2017,” he added.

Action against unregistered Afghan nationals is also in progress and police have continued search operations in Peshawar and other parts of the province. Screening at Torkham border crossing point has been intensified.

According to the official figures, 1,807 Afghan nationals, who were residing without legal documents, had been deported at Torkham crossing point since June 1. The government has introduced border management system at Torkham to regulate cross-border movement between the two countries.

Separately, Frontier Corps deported 62 Afghan nationals, who had entered Pakistan via Torkham without valid documents, said an official statement here on Wednesday.

Officials said that 97 Afghan nationals had been detected during screening process at Torkham since June last and were deported.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2016