Afghans refugees: People
immigrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan during war and uncertain conditions in
the country of origin are called Afghan Refugees. Those designated as refugees
(having Proof of Registration) are under the protection and care of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and provided legal status by the
Government of Pakistan. However, they cannot obtain Pakistani citizenship or
permanent residency, and live in Pakistan under time-limited condition of stay.
The first major wave and high influx of Afghan migration started during the
1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan, with subsequent migration waves having
continued since the Afghan Civil War period. As of December 2012, nearly 1.7
million Afghan nationals were reported to be living in Pakistan legally, while
an estimated 1 million more are staying illegally. The majority of Afghan
immigrants are based in the neighboring regions of Khyber Pakhtunkwha, Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and northwestern Baluchistan. Many of them were
born and have lived in Pakistan for more than 30 years but are still counted as
citizens of Afghanistan.
Political unrest, mass arrests and executions, and other human rights
violations, as well as the civil war were the main reasons of leaving
Afghanistan which compelled them to escape Pakistan for seeking survival.
Migrated Population and its adjustment in Pakistani society
(1) Those "who came from politically prominent and wealthy families with
personal and business assets outside Afghanistan; (2) a small group who arrived
with the assets that they could bring with them such as trucks, cars and limited
funds and which has done relatively well in Pakistan integrating into the new
society and engaging successfully in commerce; (3) those refugees who came from
the ranks of the well-educated and include professionals such as doctors,
engineers and teachers; (4) Refugees who escaped with household goods and herds
of sheep, cattle and yaks but for the most part must be helped to maintain
themselves; (5) the fifth and the largest group constituting about 60 per cent
of the refugees are ordinary Afghans who arrived with nothing and are largely
dependent on Pakistan and international efforts for subsistence.
UNHCR repatriation and current status
Since early 2002, more than 5 million Afghans have been repatriated through the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from both Pakistan and
Iran back to their native country, Afghanistan. According to a 2005 report
Census of Afghans in Pakistan by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions
(Government of Pakistan), the ethnic breakdown of Afghans in Pakistan was as
follows:
Pashtuns (81.5%)
Tajiks (7.3%)
Uzbeks (2.3%)
Hazara (1.3%)
Turkmen (2.0%)
Balochi (1.7%)
Others (3.9%)
Khyber Pakhtunkwha hosts the largest Afghan population (62.1%), followed by
Balochistan (20.3%), Punjab (4.2%), Sindh (4.2%), Islamabad (2%) and Azad
Kashmir (0.4%).
From 2005 to late 2006, the Government of Pakistan began and completed a
registration process of all Afghans living in the country. The total number of
registered Afghans was reported at 2.15 million in February 2007. They were all
issued computerized "proof of registration" (PoR) cards with special biometric
features, similar to the Pakistani National Identity Card (NIC) but has "Afghan
Citizen" on the front.
More than 357,000 Afghans were repatriated from Pakistan in the year 2007. The
repatriation process took place between March and October of that year, with
each person receiving a travel package of about 100 US dollars. Approximately
80% of the refugees were those living in Khyber Pakhtunkwha, 13% from
Baluchistan, 3% from Sindh, and the remaining 4% from Punjab and Pakistan's
capital city, Islamabad.
As of March 2009, up to 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees still remain in
Pakistan. Many of them were born and raised in Pakistan in the last 30 years but
are still counted as citizens of Afghanistan. They are allowed to work, rent
houses, travel and attend schools in the country until the expiry of PoR card.
Because Afghanistan is not ready to accept so many returnees at this point, the
UNHCR is shifting small number of refugees abroad, mostly to Canada, Australia,
Germany, Norway, Sweden and other countries. Each family that returns to
Afghanistan, on production of repatriation documents issued by the UNHCR, is
believed to be provided free plot of land by the Government of Afghanistan to
build a new home.
An unknown number of Afghan passport holders travel to Pakistan with a visa for
various reasons, including family visit, business or trade, medical purpose,
sport competitions, education, tourism, or to visit foreign embassies that are
based inside Pakistan. Some go without the necessary travel documents and when
arrested they either pay fines or spend time in jail. The same is the case for
Pakistanis who work inside Afghanistan. The visa fee between the two states is
free of charge and is usually valid for three months. As of March 2012, Pakistan
has banned extension of visas to all Afghan nationals.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkwha has stepped up efforts for a mass-scale
deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. In July 2012, the Ministry of
States and Frontier Regions of the Government of Pakistan declared that all
Afghan refugees would be repatriated from the start of 2013. In the meantime,
Afghanistan's Minister of Refugees and Repatriation announced that his ministry
would establish 48 towns in Afghanistan for the returning refugees from Pakistan
and Iran. "The ministry plans to establish 48 towns in 22 provinces of the
country with the cooperation of the United Nations' High Commissioner for
Refugees in the next three years to provide shelters for those returning from
Pakistan and Iran." This suggests that all Afghan refugees from Pakistan and
Iran will finally be shifted to Afghanistan in the next three years.
Between 2010 and the end of 2012, a total of 229,000 Afghan refugees left
Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan. Approximately 1.65 million refugees still
remain in Pakistan. Some Pakistani officials assert that an estimated 400,000 to
1 million more Afghans are living in their country illegally but there is no way
of verifying these numbers. It makes it more difficult due to the fact that
large number of people goes back and forth between the two countries on daily
bases without documents, especially the Kuchis and other Pashtuns who usually
stay in Afghanistan during the summer season and move to Pakistan during the
winter. They have been doing this for thousands of years.