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Afghan Minister for Repatriation & Refugees thanks the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR for hosting Afghans and repatriating to Afghanistan
May 11, 2005

ISLAMABAD, 11 May (UNHCR) - The Afghan Minister for Repatriation & Refugees visited the UNHCR departure and registration center in Islamabad, accompanied by the Secretary of the Ministry for the States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and UNHCR Country Representative, and expressed his gratitude to the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR, and thanked for hosting and assisting the Afghan refugees to repatriate to their homeland. On Wednesday, UNHCR assisted 700 persons to return to Afghanistan from Islamabad.

Since the beginning of voluntary repatriation programme on 7 March 2005, UNHCR has assisted more than 65,000 Afghans to return from Pakistan.

"We took refuge here in Pakistan whose people have always been kind to us. They gave us shelter although they

have had lots of economical, political and other problems themselves. I have lived here and I have never considered myself as a refugee, I feel like Pakistan was my own country," stated Dr. Mohammad Azam Dadfar, Minister for Repatriation and Refugees in Afghanistan. "I truly appreciate the feelings of Pakistani people towards Afghans and this will remain in the hearts of all Afghans forever. The Government of Pakistan too, has always been very helpful in our thorny days."

Today we see that there are 35 trucks leaving for Afghanistan and it is a very joyful event for us to witness the people returning home despite the difficulties, It is also a pleasure for me as UNHCR Representative to express my sincere gratitude to the people and the

Afghan Children eating ice on truck before leaving to Afghanistan from Islamabad © UNHCR/A.Shahzad
Government of Pakistan for their generosity, extraordinary hospitality to allow the continuous co-existence of Afghans in Pakistan" stated Ms. Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR Representative in Pakistan. The convoy consisted of 35 trucks carrying the belongings of 140 Afghan families heading back to Kabul, Jalalabad, Ghazni and Parvan which are the main destinations in Afghanistan.

 

"During the past three years, peace and stability has returned to our country very gradually. It will still take some time to have a complete peace throughout Afghanistan. Around 3.8 million Afghans have returned to their homeland during the recent three years. Many positive developments have taken place in the country" commented Dr. Dadfar. "We are therefore very thankful to our neighbouring countries for their patience supporting the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees and we also appreciate their understanding of the situation in Afghanistan. That is why we have established a Tripartite Commission with the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR to facilitate the gradual repatriation of Afghan refugees".

 

All repatriating refugees over the age of six years will go through computerised iris test in Peshawar (NWFP) or Quetta (Balochistan) before the exit points in the frontier. The iris scan will detect immediately if someone has been registered before preventing people from claiming assistance for the second time.

The Afghan refugees return to Afghanistan through the border exit points at Torkham (NWFP) and Chaman (Balochistan). Once in Afghanistan, refugees go to UNHCR encashment centers to receive a travel grant that varies from $3 to $34 per person, depending on the length of their journey, plus $12 as food assistance and for some household items.

Under the voluntary repatriation programme, UNHCR has assisted more than 2.35 million Afghans to return to Afghanistan from Pakistan since the repatriation started in 2002 and has made plans to assist 400,000 more to go home this year.

Media Contact: Jack Redden, Mobile: ++92-300-500-1133