Afghan registration to start in October

Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will begin registering Afghans living in the country in October, officials said on Thursday. The US $6 million registration programme follows-up the census conducted in March 2005, which showed that more than three million Afghans were still living in Pakistan. "Over three million Afghan individuals comprising more than 55,000 families will be registered during the 8-11 week drive, which is scheduled to start in October," Brig Abid Haider Kazmi, director general of NADRA's provincial chapter of Sindh said in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi. During the drive, Afghan refugees will be issued ID cards, allowing them to stay in Pakistan for another three years beyond 2006. The existing agreement, between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which regulates voluntary Afghan repatriation from Pakistan, is set to expire at the end of December. In April, the Pakistani government and UNHCR agreed to carry out a national registration drive, which is mandatory for every Afghan living in the country. "All Afghans aged five and above will be issued an identity card while those under five years of age will be listed on the card of the head of the family," Kazmi added. NADRA, being the implementing agency, said it would conduct the exercise using fingerprint biometrics and photos to record information. "This exercise would be done through a combination of fixed and mobile registration points. To this, we will utilise about 88 registration centres in all four provinces [of Pakistan] and Pakistani-administered Kashmir along with our mobile teams," NADRA's official said. According to UNHCR, the registration process will capture a detailed profile of Afghans living in Pakistan: where they come from, how old they are and what skills they have. "These findings will also tell us the needs of Afghans who have trouble returning [to Afghanistan], so appropriate solutions can be found for them," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said in Karachi. The data collected in the registration will help the Afghan government plan regional development in potential areas of return. It will also help Kabul make the best use of the skills returnees have, by identifying key workers such as teachers and doctors, the UNHCR official said. More than 76,000 Afghan refugees have returned so far this year. About 2.8 million Afghan refugees have repatriated from Pakistan since the UN refugee agency started its voluntary repatriation assistance programme for Afghans in early 2002. TS/SC