Preparation finalised for repatriation of Afghans

PESHAWAR: Preparation for the repatriation of undocumented and Afghan Citizen Card holder foreigners are in final stages as the deadline for their return ends in two days, coinciding with Eidul Fitr Festival.

The deadline set by the federal government for the undocumented Afghans and the ACC holders ends on March 31, likely a day ahead of Eidul Fitr. Authorities have been directed to provide all the facilities at two camps to be set up in Peshawar on Nasir Bagh Road and another in Khyber district, with a capacity of around 1500 people.

These camps will facilitate the Afghan families repatriating to their homeland. The data of all the ACC card holders Afghans is being collected through the relevant departments. Recently, the federal government sought details of the Afghan students enrolled in different institutions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The authorities concerned have been directed to treat the returning families with respect and care.“A large number of Afghan families have already planned their return to Afghanistan after Eid. Many have shut shops and businesses and others are busy in packing up,” said Saleem Khan, an Afghan fruit vendor on Kohat Road.

A majority of the 2.1 million documented Afghans are settled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the 2.1 million, over 800,000 are ACC card holders while around 1.3 million have the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.

The PoR card holders were registered with the support of the UNHCR in 2006 while ACC card holders were documented in 2017 after the National Action Plan was launched.There are hundreds of thousands of Afghans settled in the provincial capital of KP, the city that hosts the highest number of Afghan nationals than any other district.

Thousands of Afghans are doing their own businesses. Majority of them are vendors, while others have been doing jobs in the city for the last many decades. They are living in many urban, suburban and rural areas along with the local populace. There were hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals too who were living in Pakistan for decades. A huge majority of them returned to their country under a voluntary repatriation plan in 2023.

Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghans for around five decades since the invasion of the now-defunct USSR on Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of them returned to their country in the last few years while over 2.1 million are still living in KP and other provinces.