The lingering issue of Afghan refugees

Pakistan has been facing the burden of several million Afghan refugees for the past several decades. Some of these refugees have returned home while others are still languishing in Pakistan. It is one issue that must be resolved on priority. And it is the Afghan government that is responsible for early repatriation and rehabilitation of the refugees.
The last year’s gory attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar led to the National Action Plan, which includes the repatriation of Afghan refugees. Following weeks after the attack, tens of thousands of refugees left for their country. However, Pakistan, which has always been magnanimous towards the Afghans, is showing flexibility on the refugee issue, whose responsibility nevertheless lies on the shoulders of the Afghan government.
It should be noted that according to NGOs and government sources, there are some 1.6 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan who are registered with the Pakistan government. On the other hand, it is estimated that there are around one million unregistered Afghan refugees in the country. Some of them have been nabbed by the police and deported following the attack in Peshawar.
Figures reveal that the most burden of refugees is on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which in 2015 is host to 900,000 of all the registered refugees.
These account for 62 percent of the total registered ones. Balochistan and Punjab host some 20 and 11 percent registered refugees respectively.
It has been reported that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Afghanistan only plans the return of 172,000 registered refugees in the year 2015. In 2014, the UNHCR had taken back only 16,000 refugees due to elections and violence in the country.
The Afghan government has been planning to bring back and integrate the refugees. However, it is a facing a host of problems in this regard. The new Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi visited Pakistan in March 2015. He promised a comprehensive repatriation strategy while addressing a large gathering of refugee elders in Islamabad.
While the refugees are an additional burden on the local economy, it is time the world generously cooperated with the UNHCR, the Afghan government and other agencies to repatriate and resettle the refugees back in Afghanistan.