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KABUL (SW): The repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan begins on March 1st. Malik Awal Khan, a member of the Council of the United Afghan Refugees in Peshawar told Salam Watandar that refugees whose documents are expired will be repatriated to Afghanistan.
According to him, between 400 to 500 families will be repatriated to Afghanistan starting March 1st and the number is likely to increase due to non-issuance of the resident permit by Pakistan government to Afghan refugees.
However, Hafizullah Miakheil, Advisor of social affairs to the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations said that talks with Pakistani officials are underway to postpone the process until April this year.
In 2018, more than 700 thousand Afghan refugees will return back to Afghanistan, Miakheil added. He informed that efforts are being made to provide the minimum standards of living to these returnees and that the MoRR has been discussing this issue with the United Nations and other international organizations to find a suitable solution to this issue.
Recently, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said that the agreement on the return of Afghan refugees from all countries should be signed by the next 18 to 24 months.
According to the MoRR, more than 5 million Afghans are living as refugees in different countries, most of them in Pakistan and Iran.
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