ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (APP):Chief Commissioner for Afghan Re
fugees (CCAR) at the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Muhammad Abbas Khan on Tuesday said the Government of Pakistan should host an
international multilateral stake-holders’ conference aimed at addressing the challenges related to the voluntary
repatriation and third-country resettlement of Afghan re
fugees.
He said that the main objective of the conference should be to encourage the Western countries to increase their quotas and expedite the process for admitting Afghan applicants into their countries from Pakistan.
He was speaking at a seminar titled “Challenges and Opportunities in Repatriation and Resettlement of Afghan Re
fugees” organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), said a press release.
Khan underscored the importance of
international burden-sharing, urging global stakeholders to enhance resettlement opportunities for Afghan citizens on Pakistani soil.
The Chief Commissioner shared that there were around 600,000 Afghan resettlement applicants registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Re
fugees (UNHCR) but that UNHCR’s quota for resettlement applications for the year was only 8,000. This, he maintained, was very unrealistic.
Khan, highlighted the immense challenges associated with
repatriating Afghan re
fugees. Forced displacement, he noted, was a cross-cutting issue, encompassing social, political, economic, and security dimensions and increasingly
intersecting with climate change. He added that Afghanistan’s fragile absorption capacity and limited infrastructure made reintegration of the returning Afghan citizens a challenging proposition.
He further stressed the importance of addressing psychosocial adjustment challenges and called for efforts to create a secure and investment-friendly environment in Afghanistan to support sustainable reintegration.
The Chief Commissioner shared that Pakistan had
repatriated over 4 million Afghan re
fugees since 2002 and argued that most of the refugee population of 2024 was born and raised in Pakistan and were dependent on Pakistan for economic, health, and educational services.
He further stated that Afghanistan capacity to absorb large numbers of re
fugees was highly limited. Despite these hurdles, Khan expressed hope that the re
fugees, 70 per cent of whom are under the age of 30, had the potential to contribute significantly to Afghanistan’s reconstruction.
Highlighting Pakistan’s contributions to hosting millions of Afghan re
fugees over decades, the CCAR underscored the peculiar characteristics of Pakistan’s Afghan refugee situation. He called for a balanced approach towards the subject of Afghan re
fugees grounded in up-to-date and reliable facts and figures rather than misplaced perceptions. “The reality lies somewhere between perceptions and data,” he remarked.
President IRS Ambassador Jauhar Saleem called for a coordinated
international response in consultation with the Government of Pakistan to streamline the resettlement process and provide adequate support for Afghan re
fugees transitioning to new lives in Western countries.
The seminar concluded with recommendations, including strengthening voluntary
repatriation programs, fostering global collaboration, and investing in host communities. Participants also called for efforts to ensure Afghanistan becomes more secure and investment-friendly, enabling it to absorb returning re
fugees effectively.
