THE caretaker government has reportedly decided to repatriate all the illegal Afghans living in different parts of Pakistan. The plan seeks to evict about 1.1 million illegal Afghan refugees who do not possess any visa or valid documents to stay in the country.
It is a welcome development and reflects aspirations of people of Pakistan who want an end to the saga of prolonged and unnecessary stay of Afghan refugees in the country with serious socio-economic implications. However, it is to be seen how this latest move is different from announcements made umpteen times in the past which remained unimplemented because of considerations other than core interests of the country and the society. The influx of refugees commenced in the early 1980s after the Soviet invasion of the neighbouring country and Pakistan opened its doors for people in distress. However, it is also a fact that these refugees did not bother to return to their homeland even during periods of improvement in ground situation there and preferred staying in Pakistan creating enormous problems for its people. It is also widely known that hundreds of thousands of refugees, who opted to return to Afghanistan under so-called voluntary repatriation scheme, returned back to Pakistan after availing benefits of the programme. Neutral observers also express surprise that even after formation of a somewhat stable government by Taliban and steps taken to promote national unity, instead of refugees going back to Afghanistan, additional six hundred thousand fresh refugees entered Pakistan. Pakistan is facing a serious financial and economic crisis which is being compounded by illegal activities of Afghans living here illegally. There are genuine complaints that most of the Afghans are indulging in activities that are not supposed to be carried out by refugees. The plan of the government envisages action against only illegal refugees but there has been consistent demand by people of Pakistan that all Afghan nationals must be sent back to their homeland in the face of almost no foreign aid for refugees. Above all, it is more important to take effective measures to check inflow of illegal Afghans into Pakistan than their forced eviction which creates political issues for the country. It is also strange that instead of confining them to the forewalls of tentage villages, refugees have spread to almost each and every corner of Pakistan, a tendency that needs to be checked on a priority basis.
