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UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Balochistan passes 120,000

November 04, 2004

Quetta, Pakistan, 04 November (UNHCR) - The number of Afghan refugees going back from Balochistan province to their country under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme surpassed 120,000 in the year 2004.

In a send off ceremony held at the UNHCR Quetta Baleli Departure Centre, to mark the repatriation of more than 120,000 Afghan refugees from Balochistan this year, Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, Federal Minister for the States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) said good bye to 402 Afghan refugees repatriating voluntarily to Afghanistan. "Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghans with what ever limited resources it had. Now that you are voluntarily repatriating to your country we would like you to act as Pakistan's ambassadors and take to your countrymen a message of peace, friendship and harmony from Pakistan to Afghanistan", said Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind while addressing the send off ceremony.

Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), is handing over Voluntary Repatriation Form (VRF) to an Afghan refugee at UNHCR Departure Center Quetta © UNHCR/B.Baloch

Since March 2004 over 375,000 Afghans have voluntarily returned to Afghanistan from all over the country under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme.

"The voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan is under a tripartite agreement signed between the Government of Pakistan, our brotherly Islamic country Afghanistan and UNHCR. Pakistan is lending all its support to the voluntary repatriation process under the agreement valid till March 2006. We will also help UNHCR to facilitate in the repatriation of the remaining Afghan refugees from Pakistan with dignity and honour", he said.

He said that the return of more than 2.3 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan in three years time since the start of the programme in 2002 also showed the level of the confidence that Afghans had in the current set-up. The Federal Minister hoped that the current pace of development in Afghanistan will continue.

Kwame Boafo, Head of UNHCR Sub-office Quetta, said that since the beginning of the voluntary repatriation programme of Afghan refugees from Balochistan UNHCR had been closely working with the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan.

"We highly appreciate the cooperation and help extended us during this successful operation. Without this help the goal that we have achieved in the last three years would not have been possible" he said.

The Head of UNHCR also informed about the repatriation this year of around 50,000 Afghans from the new Afghan refugee camps of Balochistan which were establish post 9/11. He said that this had enabled the UNHCR and the Government of Pakistan to close four such camps in Chaman along the Pak-Afghan border.

Ms. Zelmira Sinclair, Senior Repatriation Officer UNHCR Quetta, said that voluntary repatriation was free and voluntary return to one's country of origin in safety and dignity being the solution of choice for a vast majority of refugees.

"UNHCR's mandate is to provide, in collaboration with other actors, international protection to refugees and to assist them in finding permanent solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement", she said.

Mohammad Saeed, a representative of the repatriating Afghan refugees, from Ghazni province, thanked the government and people of Pakistan for generously hosting them. "We left our country when there was unrest and war all around, and now we are going back with a hope to start a new life. Afghan refugees have no words to thank the people of Pakistan but we will always remember the hospitality that we received here", he said.

The voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan continues till March 2006 under a tripartite agreement signed between Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR.

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