Zubair Qureshi
Participants of a roundtable conference organized by Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (ICSS) on “Evaluating the impact of government’s policy on repatriation of unauthorized refugees” held success of the government’s policy to repatriate illegal Afghan refugees crucial for the achieving the desired goals.
The conference was addressed by Brigadier (R) IshaqKhattak, Director General of Pak Afghan Youth Forum, Salman Javed and MD of PICSS, Abdullah Khan. The event was attended by academics, defense analysts, media persons, and students.
The session was chaired by Chairman PICSS Major General (R) SaadKhattak who in his concluding remarks held in whatever circumstances the policy was adopted once it is adopted, we should back it up and it must succeed. He said that there was almost a consensus that Afghan refugees have to go back to their homeland; the only difference is about the time selected for the adoption of this policy. However, since it is adopted now in the middle of the implementation the focus should be on the success of the policy. Brigadier IshaqKhattak said Pakistan and Afghanistan had shaky relations and the goal to improve the security situation in the country through repatriation of Afghan refugees is hard to achieve.
According to him, there may be some decline in social or ordinary crimes but as far as the issue of terrorism is concerned it would be hard to achieve that goal because TTP has its sanctuaries and patronage in Afghanistan. The move is viewed as a means to allow our dedicated security agencies to focus more effectively on pressing security challenges. The call for maturity and state-like behavior is resonant, Suggestions lean towards adopting robust border control mechanisms akin to those with India, rather than relying solely on extensive fencing efforts.
Salman Javed emphasized the economic and cultural role of this repatriation on both sides. He said that following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, 886,000 Afghans entered Pakistan and now hold an ACC card, registered in both Pakistan and Afghanistan’s databases. In 2021, 1.1 million Afghans entered Pakistan after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and they are economic migrants while at least 1.4 million Afghans are registered with UNHCR, this constitutes around 2.6 million Afghans who are not being repatriated. So far only around three hundred thousand Afghans living in Pakistan illegally are repatriated while during the same period, Iran has deported around four hundred fifty thousand Afghans but there was no hue and cry on that repatri
