Afghan refugees and Pakistan



Farhat Akram

Principal global agency, UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), solicited Pakistan to extend the stay of Afghan refugees for at least four more years putting Pakistan in a quandary. According to a senior government official, the UNHCR has cited various reasons, ranging from the worsening security situation and poor governance structures to the lack of shelter in the war-ravaged Afghanistan, for seeking the extension. UNHCR's stance is that Pakistan should understand the ground realities and look beyond 2009 as it is not possible to repatriate 1.8 million refugees in one year, and after granting the extension, the government should renew the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards which would expire by the end of 2009. Pakistan has blatantly argued that refugee camps on this side of the border have turned into safe havens for elements that are from Afghanistan. Militants found sanctuary in these camps, thus causing catastrophe for Pakistan. The wretched condition of the refugees also reflects the inaptness of American-backed government to assert control over large swaths of the country.

Twenty years of intense war, after the 1979 Soviet invasion in support to the communist regime in Afghanistan, and 19 tumultuous years after the withdrawal of the last Soviet soldier in 1989, Afghanistan is still in flux today. It has become a failed state and a liability to regional and global peace. The continuous invasions of Afghanistan have caused millions of Afghan natives to flee from their country to neighbouring states. The perilous security conditions in the country have induced to produce the world's largest ever single refugee caseload, at times as high as 6.2 million persons out of 13.9 million populations. It has been rightly said that war always produces miseries and refugees and not resolutions.

Pakistan is the country hosting probably the largest number of these refugees since the eruption of war. Today there are three million of them that have fled and took shelter in 80 designated camps (71 in NWFP and 12 in Balochistan) in Pakistan, mingled themselves with the local population and are not willing to go back to Afghanistan. Pakistan is faced with a massive internal migration from this 'war nomad'ism', destroying its law and order and its social fabric. Already the biggest social change in Pakistan's history has come from a 20-year 'offensive and defensive' strategic preoccupation with Afghanistan.

Pakistan's policy for the refugees pouring in from Afghanistan after the eruption of civil war in the 1980s and the deteriorating conditions during the decades of 1990 remained very compassionate. The government established refugee camps with all the basic facilities ranging from education to basic health care, and refugees were allowed to settle any where in the country. Although few political parties oppose lenient approach of the government, the attitude of the people towards them remained friendly. The government gave virtual free hand to international aid giving agencies for establishing offices in Pakistan and carrying out relief activities for refugees. Some of refugees established business, owned property, brought their live stock and vehicles, and used Pakistan as a transit route for International travel.

The influx of the refugees created socio-economic problems for Pakistan. The hospitability has lead to the marked shift in the societal structure. These refugees caused deep rooted troubles on various fronts like shortage of resources, competition in labour market, environmental degradation, drugs, ethnic imbalances, etc. Some of these also got involved in criminal activities, smuggling, narco-traffic, and social problems but now they have turned into trouble spots for global peace.

Painstakingly there exists a need to evaluate the working and progress of the mission of UNHCR in Pakistan which began in 1980s with objectives to facilitate the repartition of Afghan refugees to assist the vast number of Afghans who have voluntarily decided to return home, to provide protection and assistance to Afghan refugees in their camps and settlements in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, to identify solutions for non-Afghan refugees in Pakistan, to resettle in a third country a limited number of Afghan refugees for whom neither staying in Pakistan nor returning to their homeland is a safe option, such as women at risk or security cases. The number of refugees UNHCR resettles from Pakistan remains among the highest of any country, despite the obstacles created by much more stringent security checks since 9/11.

In the year 1988 a set of agreements signed under the name of Geneva Accords, between Pakistan and regime in Kabul, one of that was related to voluntary return of all the Afghan refugees to their homeland and was entitled 'Bilateral agreement between republic of Afghanistan and Islamic republic of Pakistan on voluntary return of refugees'. Nevertheless these accords, after passing of two decades still seem on papers. One of the analyst called the accord on the refugees as something that could lead to "Ethiopian sort of tragedy" while writing for foreign affairs in 1988. The return of Afghan refugees to native soil still is one of the serious issues that has been under debate between Pakistan and UNHCR and remains a controversial issue. More than five million Afghans have returned to their homeland since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. But growing insecurity threatens the gains the country has made since then.

While the refugees who have returned with high hopes found harsh realities awaiting them; they lack land to settle on and fear fighting between Taliban militants and Nato and Afghan government forces. Pakistan has remained under relentless criticism from the West for not doing enough to restore the restoration of peace in the region while playing its key role in the war on terror. With its ambiguous nature and objectives has put Pakistan on crossroads of history to carry out substantial policy decision either to continue or give a lukewarm response to this mess. As the case of refugees in Pakistan, it is desired that Pakistan must not carry the burden alone and with the situation mounting in the country it simply cannot afford to. And policy must shift from compassionate response to straight forward decisions responding the issue with firmness. This issue must be discussed not only on the forum of UN but must go beyond the said stage.

With using various podiums like Saarc, this issue must be peacefully resolved and Pakistan must make its voice heard to the nations of the world so that related concerns should be addressed. "Just saying that since 2.4 million people cannot return so Pakistan can keep them as long as situation in Afghanistan does not improve - that is something we cannot accept," as one government official representing Pakistan in UNHCR said. According to official figures, 83 percent of the Afghans living in Pakistan are Pushtun The NWFP has been flooded with them and adding woes to the government in charge with addition to the worsening law and order conditions in the province.

The biggest concern in our times of high emotion is Pakistan's economy which is facing its worst condition since the current government took control. The socio-economic crises of high voltage wrenching the state power structure have resulted in inability of the government to steer the ship of the nation away from the fire. Pakistan cannot bear much of the burden of this magnitude. As the internal crisis situation holds sway, UNHCR and the government of Pakistan must work together to develop modalities whereby the solution to the safe return of refugees is made possible.

The writer works for the Islamabad Policy Research Institute

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