MIANWALI: Though the repatriation process of the Afghan refugees is in progress but most Afghans in Mianwali are reluctant to go back to Afghanistan despite the inadequate facilities at the refugee camp.

The district government is on the hunt for the illegal refugees living without proof of registration (POR) and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) for repatriation. It has established a holding camp for these Afghans at Mahranwala near Mianwali.

The sources in the district administration, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn they had received a list of 228 illegal Afghans residing in the district but only five of them could be traced who were being repatriated. The district administration is still searching for the illegal Afghans as per the list.

However, most Afghans in the area have the proof of registration (PoR) issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

One of the legal Afghans, Bilal Khan Sodai, who has almost lost his eyesight, had a chat with this scribe. His family was shifted to the refugee camp at Kot Chandna Mianwali in 1982 during the Afghan war. The family consists of 11 members, including five brothers and four sisters.

“I was born here in 1992 in this camp and don’t want to be repatriated. I have never been to Afghanistan since my birth and got my preliminary education at the refugee camp Kot Chandna. Moreover, my parents told me that our houses in Afghanistan were destroyed during the war and in case of our repatriation, we have no roof over us to survive in the acute winter season.”

Sodai says that as he grew up, he developed an eyesight issue and he is almost blind now. He moves with the support of his younger brother who was accompanying him during this chat. The family works at the agriculture farms of a landlord at Jalalpur near the camp and that’s their only livelihood.

Sodai has applied to the (United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for resettlement to some other country where he could get his eye treatment. The UNHCR office called him and interviewed him. They informed him, through a letter on Oct 24, 2023, that his case was under process.

Sodai says that the UNHCR was providing them more facilities earlier but now the same were being withdrawn gradually with the exception of schools and a hospital which are going to be handed over to some NGO as he learnt from the camp workers.

During the Afghan war in 1982, two refugees camps were established in Mianwali district at Isakhel and Kot Chandna.

The Isakhel camp was closed in 1988 and its refugees were shifted to Kot Chandna, 30km from here. This camp was established over 1,350 acres and later on extended up to 2,000 acres.

The UNHCR built houses, schools, hospital and market in the camp whose maximum count went up to 180,000 people. Due to growing strength the UNHCR established a hospital outside the camp at Kalabagh equipped with modern facilities. As soon the refugees’ strength starts falling down, the same hospital was handed over to Punjab Red Crescent in 1997 and its machinery was shifted to Lahore. Dozens of air-conditioners and costly medical machinery disappeared mysteriously from the hospital and the mystery was never solved. In 1998, the hospital was handed over to the district health authorities who upgraded it as THQ Hospital Kalabagh and posted its staff there. However, a small hospital is still functioning at the camp.

Dr Rafaqat Khan, in-charge of the Afghan Refugee Camp Hospital, Kot Chandna, has been serving at the camp for the last 30 years. He says that 14,000 Afghan refugees having PoR are in the camp at the moment and none of them wants to be repatriated to Afghanistan because they are financially comfortable here.

Dr Khan knows each Afghan family in the camp. He says each Afghan in the camp wants to move to any other country but not Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2024