PESHAWAR: Mohmandan Ali (65), an Afghan refugee living at Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for about forty years, is all set to left for Afghanistan voluntarily in the second phase of repatriation which would be started after Eidul Fitre vacations.
He along with about 3.5 million Afghan refugees were migrated to Pakistan following Ex-USSR Invasion in Afghanistan and have settled here with whom all facilities including schools, hospitals, houses, hotels and transport were shared by Pakistani brothers.
Mohmandan Ali said that he and his family had left everything at in Afghanistan after the ex-USSR invaded Kabul on December 25, 1979. He added that latter he settled at Pabbi tehsil of Nowshera district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
He said that they would return to Kabul after Eid and thanked Pakistani brothers for their long hospitality and friendship during his 44 years stay in Northwest Pakistan.
Around one million Afghans would be repatriated in the second phase of a repatriation drive to Afghanistan that would officially launch on April 15. Rifaqat Khan, the spokesperson of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department stated that all arrangements have been finalized for the 2nd phase of the repatriation in all four provinces of Pakistan besides GB and AJK.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees data has showed that around 2.18 million documented Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan including 1.3 million refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards as per the census conducted in 2006-07 and 8,80,000 refugees on ACCs granted following a registration campaign in 2017.
Commenting over the development, analyst Professor Dr Ejaz Khan said that refugees’ repatriation campaign is purely in line with Pakistani and global laws. He added that Pakistan cannot allow illegal stay of foreigners and illegal foreign nationals have to leave for their country.
A spokesperson of the Commissionerate for refugees in Peshawar said that legal Afghan refugees are being facilitated in Pakistan. He stated the provincial task force has endorsed 38 projects worth Rs960 million under Refugees Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) program for the year 2024-25 for fostering social cohesion between host communities and documented refugees.
