Federal cabinet grants one-year extension in stay to registered Afghan refugees

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Wednesday decided to grant a one-year extension in the stay of registered Afghan refugees, allaying their fear of being sent back to Afghanistan.

The caretaker government had announced the repatriation of all illegal foreigners citing security concerns in October last year.

The repatriation of unregistered Afghans began on November 1 and officials now say that up to 500,000 Afghans have gone back to their country.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday, the federal cabinet approved one-year extension of the validity of Proof of Registration (PoR) cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees. The PoR cards expired on June 30, 2024. The extension has been granted until June 30, 2025, said the statement.

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Pakistan is still home to around 1.3 million registered Afghans. In addition to the registered Afghans, more than 800,000 have Afghan citizenship cards, according to the UNHCR.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the cabinet meeting.

The UNHCR has welcomed the decision. According to UNHCR spokesperson Qaisar Khan Afridi, 52 per cent of PoR cardholders live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while over 315,000 live in Balochistan. Similarly, around 1,950,000 live in the Punjab province, while 75,000 live in Sindh and 40,000 live in Islamabad and some in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. – Special Correspondent