PAKISTAN, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, will host an international conference next week to mark four decades of the Afghan refugees in the country. The two-day conference, “40 years of Afghan Refugees Presence in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity” is expected to be participated by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, ministers and senior officials from around 20 countries who have been supporting the Afghan refugees across the globe and in Pakistan.
The moot assumes significance as it comes at a time when Pakistan has almost been left abandoned by donors in dealing with the continuing challenge of protracted Afghan refugees. It will, therefore, provide an opportunity to highlight the exemplary compassion, generosity and hospitality exhibited by Pakistan in hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world and the need for proper cooperation and assistance by the international community to ensure their wellbeing. Unfortunately, the international community has contradictory approach to the issue of Afghan refugees as it urges Pakistan to continue providing shelter to them but is not willing to extend a helping hand in this regard despite serious economic and financial crises that the country is facing at the moment. We are being told that Afghans should not be repatriated till complete restoration of peace in Afghanistan but at the same time the world community continues to show a callous indifference towards Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers – who have been forcibly returned in large numbers from Europe or subject to cruel conditions in Australia’s offshore detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru. In this backdrop, Pakistan should highlight socio-economic consequences of the protracted presence of refugees, concrete steps for permanent repatriation of refugees to Afghanistan and that refugees are an international responsibility which should be shared.
