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Afghan minister in Pakistan on alleged arrests, expulsion of refugees

Xinhua, March 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation, Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi, opened talks in Pakistan on Monday about alleged arrests and expulsion of Afghan refugees.

Authorities in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province had started a campaign against unregistered Afghan refugees after the Taliban attacked an army school in Peshawar on Dec. 16, which left over 150 people dead, including 135 children.

Pakistan hosts 3 million Afghan refugees, almost half are non- registered, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Balkhi, leading a nine-member delegation, will be holding meetings with Pakistan UNHCR officials to resolve the refugee issue, an Afghan Embassy official said.

The Afghan minister met representatives of the Afghan refugees on Sunday and listened to their concerns.

He assured that he will take up all issues with the Pakistani leaders over the next few days and that both sides will find out a solution to the problem, a participant of the meeting said.

Balkhi told the refugees that the government of President Ashraf Ghani has mapped out a comprehensive repatriation strategy. A 13-member committee, supervised by the president, will be formed to monitor progress on the strategy.

Balkhi said earlier that he would ask Pakistani authorities to give enough time for necessary arrangements for the refugees.

The Afghan minister is scheduled to meet Pakistan's Minister of States and Frontier Regions, Abdul Qadir Baloch, who is also dealing with the Afghan refugees, on Monday.

He will also visit Afghan refugees in Peshawar.

Pakistani authorities denied any harassment of registered refugees and insisted some refugees had also been found involved in crimes, a charge denied by the Afghan government.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the country considered the unregistered Afghans as "illegal aliens."

"Their situation makes them vulnerable to exploitation by terrorists. Naturally, these matters are discussed with the Afghan government and we do not think that this issue is going to create any friction [between the two countries]," she said.

The UNHCR spokesperson in Islamabad, Duniya Khan, said the Afghan minister will also attend a tripartite meeting with Pakistan and the UNHCR representatives on Wednesday.

Registered Afghans were issued Proof of Registration cards that allowed them to stay in Pakistan till Dec. 31. Pakistan had extended the stay of the refugees twice but some officials have indicated the stay would not be extended again. Endi