The repatriation process for Afghans refugees continues smoothly, the officials told.
The recent data revealed that the total number of illegal Afghans, who left Pakistan as part of the repatriation plan, reached 637,427 till July 3, 2024.
The officials told that 432 Afghan families were repatriated to their Country in 496 vehicles.
It was further informed that from June 1 to July 3, 2024, 7,345 men, 4,732 women, and 4,369 children returned to Afghanistan.
It should be remembered that even before the federal government’s announcement, a large number of illegal Afghans had returned to their Country from Pakistan for fear of arrest.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 2.18 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan including Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders as per the 2006-07 census.
In addition to the 1.3 million refugees, there are an additional 880,000 refugees who were given Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) following the registration drive in 2017.
After the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in August 2021, another influx of Afghan refugees to Pakistan was witnessed. According to the authorities, the number was between 6 lakh and 8 lakh. Some of them also have legal travel documents but their future is uncertain.
Is the figure of 17 lakh exaggerated?
Pakistan launched the first phase of repatriation of unregistered foreigners in November last year but no official figures have been released on how many of the 1.7 million unregistered Afghans have returned home since November 2023. Although the number is probably much lower than what is now being considered highly exaggerated.
But according to informed sources, the total number of unregistered Afghan refugees returning to Afghanistan through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the first phase is around 5 lakh.
Given the increasing pressure to speed up the repatriation of unregistered Afghans due to the low number of returnees, the authorities immediately contacted the Ministry of Interior to re-verify the data expressing surprise about the reality of the claim of 1.7 million unregistered Afghans.
