Pakistan still hosts over 2 million Afghan refugees

Pakistan still hosts over two million Afghan refugees, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt. General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, told the National Assembly on Wednesday.

He said the total number of unregistered Afghan refugees is 1.4 million while registered is 1.63 million.

Pakistan last month decided to extend the stay of the Afghan refugees until December 31^st and the minister said his country is trying to repatriate the Afghan refugees by deadline.

He said that fake Identity cards of Afghan Refuges will be detected through finger prints. He said nearly three hundred thousands refugees are living in the port city of Karachi.

Answering a question the minister said Pakistan cannot force the refugees to go homes as the international laws says refugees will return voluntarily.

The minister said the government will do legislation to regulate the stay of the foreigners, adding a meeting was held to formulate the comprehensive mechanism to settle this issue.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the house that Afghan mobile SIMs are being sold in the market of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the tribal regions.

“We will ask the Interior Ministry to raise the issue with the Afghan government and ask them to stop smuggling of these SIMs.”

He said Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa government will also be directed to curb the sale of these SIMs as they are illegal and the militants use them for contacts.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Sep 18 2013. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.