10,000 Pakistanis had registered as Afghan refugees for dollars from UN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has tracked over 10,000 Pakistanis who registered themselves as Afghan refugees in order to collect dollar stipends.

The scam came to light as the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had set a $400 payment for each Afghan refugee returning to their homeland under a voluntary repatriation scheme.

Nadra chairman Usman Yusuf Mobeen told a Parliamentary briefing that 10,000 Pakistani nationals misused the

THE SCAM BEGAN AFTER UNHCR STARTED GIVING $400 EACH TO AFGHAN REFUGEES RETURNING TO THEIR HOMELAND UNDER A VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION SCHEME

scheme and cheated the United Nations.

Mobeen said many of the culprits were caught by Nadra’s system when the card holders sought to obtain national ID cards after their previous IDs were blocked.

The Nadra chairman said around one million Afghan refugees had been repatriated to Afghanistan under the voluntary repatriation scheme.

‘PAK NEEDS TO DO MORE FOR AFGHAN PEACE’

WASHINGTON:A top US official on the Afghanistan reconciliation efforts has said that though there’s been a “positive change” in Pakistan’s stand on the peace process, Islamabad still needs to do a lot more.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, said, “We would like Pakistan to do more as other countries”, adding that Islamabad’s cooperation is critical to improving ties with the US.

AMERICAN ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO JOIN LeT

WASHINGTON: In a sign that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has expanded its tentacles in the US, prosecutors announced that they have arrested 29-year-old Jesus Encarnacion, a New Yorker, who was about to catch a flight to Pakistan to join the terror group.

SHARIF WILL STAY ON NO-FLY LIST: GOVT

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry on Saturday shot down a request from ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law to get their names removed from the Exit Control List, which stops them from leaving the country.