(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to their country continues with around 500 families going back to Afghanistan every day.
A spokesman of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said that when refugees return, their identity is verified through the latest IRIS test and after that they are issued registration forms. Every person who leaves is given $400 of financial assistance. Two centres have been established to facilitate the return of refugees.
One center is located in the Chamkani area of Peshawar which is assisting refugees returning from the areas of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Islamabad. The other centre is set up in Quetta where refugees from Sindh and Balochistan can contact to get a date for their return and complete other formalities.
According to the spokesman, IRIS test is made to ensure that the refugees should not return from Afghanistan after getting the financial assistance.
When the refugees arrive in Afghanistan, every person gets $400 within seven days of applying at the UNHCR centres working in Kandahar, Kabul and Jalalabad.
Out of that assistance, 350 dollars are given as monetary help and $50 for transportation. Around 300 trucks leave Pakistan daily to transport refugees back to Afghanistan.
Pakistan government has taken serious measures to force around three million registered and unregistered Afghan refugees, living in Pakistan for over three decades, to leave for their own country
Pakistan federal minister for states and frontier regions Abdlul Qadir Baloch has said all Afghan refugees need to leave Pakistan by 31 of December, 2016 otherwise will be treated as 'illegal immigrants'.
Abdlul Qadir Baloch reitereated that the deadline would not be extended and also the immigration documents of the refugees would be extended.
Previously, June 31, 2016 had been set as the deadline for the return of Afghan refugees but Pakistan extended the date till December 31 this year.
Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees for over three decades. Pakistan hosts 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees and over one million unregistered ones.
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source : Agencies
Monday
29 August 2016
1:16:48 PM
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The return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to their country continues with around 500 families going back to Afghanistan every day.