KABUL (SW): The President's Special Envoy & Afghanistan Ambassador Extraordinaire to Pakistan has said that as many as 13000 refugees have returned home from Pakistan in the past one year.
Talking to Salam Watandar, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal confirmed that of late refugees have been facing persecution in Pakistan but talks are underway with Pakistani officials to resolve the issue. He added that reports about 7000 Afghan refugees being arrested in Pakistan after the exchange of fire at the Torkham Crossing Point are baseless. He clarified that this figure represents the arrests made during the past year and a half during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)’s provincial government.
As per his information, as many as 13000 Afghan refugees have returned to their home country in the past one year. The Ambassador stressed that it is vital to create work friendly environment for these refugees to return home.
The latest figures by the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriates (MoRR) suggests that some 1800 refugees are returning home on daily basis from Pakistan. Hafeez Ahmad, media advisor of the ministry told Salam Watandar that the number of refugees returning from Pakistan is on the rise and the MoRR is busy creating enabling environment for them.
Commenting on this, Nader Farhad, spokesman for the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan said that the problems faced by the refuges would be discussed in a trilateral meeting next month in Islamabad.
ENDS
