Afghan refugees allowed to stay through December

islamabad — Pakistan has extended the deadline for its 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees to return home, saying they can remain through the end of this year.

Minister of State for Information Maryam Aurangzeb said the decision to postpone the deadline from March until the end of December was approved in a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.

Pakistan, which is also home to an estimated 1 million unregistered Afghan refugees, has not said what it plans to do once the deadline expires. Many of the refugees have been in Pakistan for decades, after fleeing the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s or the civil war in the 1990s.

Maryam said the cabinet also introduced several other measures, including a new visa regime, to control Afghans’ movement along the porous border.

The cabinet approved the policy pertaining to the repatriation of Afghan refugees and barred entry into the country for those refugees who do not have valid visas.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over the cabinet meeting during which the refugee repatriation and management policy was approved.

The policy calls for strict implementation of Pakistan’s immigration laws along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and ensuring that those without visas are not allowed entry into the country. Maryam said, “The interior ministry has been directed to expedite the process of registering refugees, which is already under way.”

During the meeting it was also decided that 50 bunkers will be built along the Working Boundary to provide refuge to villagers living in the area during incidents of cross-border firing between India and Pakistan.

The meeting also agreed that the families of those killed in such incidents will be given Rs0.5 million as compensation. Families of those injured in fire exchanges will be given Rs0.15m in compensation.

The cabinet approved, in principle, negotiations of a draft agreement between Russia and Pakistan for the training of military personnel. —