Census suggests more than 2.5 million Afghans want to stay

More than 2.5 million Afghan refugees would like to continue living in Pakistan beyond 2005, according to a detailed census report released on Wednesday by Pakistani authorities, in conjunction with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The findings of the report, entitled, 'Census of Afghans in Pakistan 2005' revealed that of three million Afghans in the country, some 75 percent are not ready to repatriate, citing poor security, a lack of adeqate housing, scarcity of jobs and various land issues. "The census responses underline the need for continuing development assistance inside Afghanistan," the report said. The census was conducted in February and March this year, with financial and technical assistance from the UN refugee agency, by 3,000 enumerators from Pakistan's Population and Census Organisation (PCO). It was a comprehensive survey and the first of its kind to ask a broad range of questions covering issues such as present residence, place of origin in Afghanistan, length of stay in Pakistan, livelihood, ethnicity and attitude to repatriation. "This census data would be extremely useful for national as well as international agencies while dealing with a range of issues from protection, security and immigration to anti-terrorism initiatives," said Sajid Hussain Chattha, from the ministry dealing with Afghan refugees, speaking in the capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. Despite the findings that most Afghans do not feel confident about going home yet, the Pakistani government has made it clear that it wants to move ahead with a timetable for repatriating them. "While Islamabad remains fully committed to the principle of voluntary repatriation of Afghans in Pakistan as the preferred goal, it must not be interpreted as if we favour unlimited continuation of protected refugee programmes in the country," commented Chattha. The next phase in Pakistan is the registration of Afghans and the issuing of identity documents. This exercise is expected to start by early 2006 prior to the expiry of the tripartite refugee agreement between the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR in March next year. "Federal and provincial working groups have been constituted to finalise the modalities of the registration, which would help us in further managing the Afghan population," said Chattha.