Tajiks offered return home

Tajik nationals living in Pakistan, many of whom are studying in madrassas (religious schools), are being offered the chance to return home on free flights arranged by their government.

"Our president wants them to have a better life back home as they have struggled here for a long time," first secretary of the Tajik consulate in Islamabad, Takhir Alimov, told IRIN on Wednesday. "These people are returning voluntarily, he added.

Some 350 Tajiks have already left the country on three flights in May, June and July. A fourth flight is planned for next month. "We are planning a flight from Karachi," he said, adding that more and more Tajiks were coming forward to register for the assistance.

There are some 600 Tajiks registered to be living in the South Asian nation in cities such as Peshawar in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Lahore in the Punjab province, the southern port city of Karachi, and the capital, Islamabad.

Security in Pakistan was not the motivating factor for the returnee programme, he explained, saying that the programme had been in discussion in 1999 and had only just been implemented. Most Tajiks fled their country following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many went to Afghanistan and then went on to Pakistan. "Parents sent their children to Pakistan to study and they ended up in madrassas because it is free education and lodgings," he explained.

Some parents had not had any contact with their offspring since they had left for Pakistan and had contacted Tajik officials for help in locating them. "The parents don't know which madrassas their children went to, so we want to reunite them," he added.

Most Tajiks who arrived in Pakistan opted to study in Madrassas. One such student, Said Ali Hshanov, travelled through Afghanistan with his family in 1992 and lived in a camp in the northern province of Konduz. In 1994, Hshanov went to the NWFP in search of a better life. "I joined a madrassa in Peshawar and studied there for some years as I had no better options at the time," he told IRIN.

Alimov said another reason for the free transportation was growing concern over the well-being of Tajiks, especially after it was established that some madrassas were recruiting grounds for the Taliban. "Our citizens did not know any better. They just wanted a better life," he maintained.

Explaining that some Tajiks did not even possess official documents, Alimov said a special certificate was issued to those travelling on the free flights to show that they were citizens of the Central Asian republic.

Once back in Tajikistan, however, they will face another struggle in rebuilding their lives even with the benefits of Tajik citizenship. Indeed, most will be without shelter and work. "We requested the help of the United Nations and various governments, but we have not been helped. After all we are a poor country and cannot take on this burden alone," he stressed.

Officials at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Islamabad say none of the Tajiks have refugee status and are, therefore, not eligible for assistance. "We have contacted our office in Dushanbe which is trying to see if they will be able to assist those returning in any way," UNHCR spokesman in Islamabad, Jack Redden, told IRIN.