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AFGHAN
REFUGEES IN PAKISTAN UNABLE TO RETURN HOME, BY CAROLINE PATTON: 15/04/2008
(MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED
NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 15
April 2008 --
Since the beginning of March,
more then 10,000 refugees from
Afghanistan
have successfully gone back to their homes, according to the UN. But an
initiative to repatriate several hundred Afghan refugees from
Pakistan
hit a snag today, as the group was unable to depart as planned from
Peshawar
due to tribal violence in the area.
The
clashes closed the Peshawar-Torkham road linking
Pakistan
and
Afghanistan
and, at present, more than 360 families remain in
Peshawar
and it is unclear when they will be able to complete their journey back to
Afghanistan
and their homes. The roadblocks erected after tribal fighting broke out have
not yet been removed.
The
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had been working diligently to return
refugees to
Afghanistan
and close refugee camps in
Pakistan
. This effort is now on hold until the road can be reopened.
In
the meantime, refugees will not be sent to
Peshawar
, which serves as a way point on the trip to
Afghanistan
, while the situation is being resolved. Once the roadblocks are gone, the
repatriation initiative will be restarted. The repatriation initiatives through
Balochistan are still operational.
The
Jalozai camp, housing 70,000 people, will not be shut down today, as planned but
will remain open until the refugees living there can go back to
Afghanistan
. The UNHCR says that, “The authorities have assured us that houses that are
still occupied will not be demolished, and that basic services such as food,
water and electricity will keep running until the last inhabitant leaves.” The
refugees at the camp have been given the choice to stay
Pakistan
and move to a refugee village or return to
Afghanistan
.
According
to UNHCR, while it “acknowledges that Jalozai must be closed as previously
agreed and that its residents must cooperate by leaving on time,” after
today’s developments, it “hope[s] the Pakistani government can give them a
little more time in view of the current impasse on the Peshawar-Torkham road.”
Country
Representative in
Afghanistan
for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Salvatore Lombardo, says that for
2008 “The first indications tell us that we are at around the same level of
returns that we saw in 2006 and to a certain extent in 2005,” he stated. Some
Afghan refugees are reluctant to go back because of the continuing instability
there and fears that they will be unable to find work.
About
two million people from
Afghanistan
are presently living in
Pakistan
and an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 will be repatriated this year.
Approximately 1 million Afghans are located in
Iran
, but not many are likely to go back to
Afghanistan
. Finally, a number of Afghans settled in
Tajikistan
, some for decades, will be offered new assistance to become part of the society
there. They are unlikely to ever go back to their homeland.
--Caroline
Patton
Labels:
United
Nations, U.N.
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