Pakistani authorities on Tuesday said they were trying to increase the pace of Afghan registration, while urging more Afghans to come forward for registration before the exercise ends on 31 December.
“There have been difficulties regarding registration sites, mobile units, and in accessing the census data, which are under review. Now, there is a need to accelerate the process through better planning and management on behalf of all the involved partners, to get good results in the end,” Sajid Hussain Chattha, Secretary of the Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), said at a press briefing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
“This [process] is critical for the future management of the Afghan population within Pakistan and to ensure a sustainable repatriation inside Afghanistan,” Chattha added.
The 10-week drive, costing some US $6 million, is aimed at providing millions of Afghan exiles in Pakistan with identity cards valid for three years. The cards recognise the bearer as an Afghan citizen temporarily living in Pakistan.
Some 136,000 Afghan nationals have so far been registered across Pakistan since the operation started on 15 October, while over 100,000 have been issued with the cards.
But registrations from the Afghan community have been slower than expected, putting the operation behind schedule.
“Plans were to register more than 30,000 Afghans a day, but we are registering only about 7,000 people per day,” said Saleem Moin, Chairman of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
As implementing agency, NADRA has made extensive arrangements with about 70 static and mobile registration centres manned by some 2,000 staff across the country to record detailed profiles of Afghans, including fingerprints and photos.
To convince Afghans to register, Pakistani authorities, together with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), are preparing to launch an extensive media campaign shortly.
“The media campaign, to be launched in three to four days, is primarily aimed at making Afghans aware of this initiative and to communicate the objectives of this exercise while removing any of their fears about this exercise,” Chattha told IRIN.
“Afghans have been living in Pakistan for more than two decades, they should not be fearful of expulsion or any forced repatriation. Instead, they will be getting legal status to ensure their rights as refugees,” the secretary of SAFRON explained.
“This is not a registration to deport or exclusively repatriate Afghans. It is part of protection measures and will gather information and seek to provide a much-awaited solution to their protracted situation,” Guenet Guebre-Christos, country representative of the UN refugee agency, said.
The UN refugee agency is in negotiations with Islamabad and Kabul on new return arrangements beyond 2006, possibly shifting from individual travel assistance to area-based reintegration assistance.
According to UNHCR, any future return assistance will only be given to Afghans who hold valid ID cards issued after registration.
“There have been discussions about reintegration packages of up to US $300 for each family under new cluster arrangements. But this has yet to be finalised with other partners,” Chattha told IRIN.
The registration drive is a follow-up to a comprehensive Afghan census conducted in Pakistan in February and March 2005, which found more than 3 million Afghans were still living in the country.
More than 580,000 Afghans have returned home with UNHCR assistance since the census, leaving an estimated 2.4 million Afghans still living in Pakistan today, according to UNHCR.
Only Afghans counted in the 2005 census can register after having their names checked against the census database.
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“There have been difficulties regarding registration sites, mobile units, and in accessing the census data, which are under review. Now, there is a need to accelerate the process through better planning and management on behalf of all the involved partners, to get good results in the end,” Sajid Hussain Chattha, Secretary of the Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), said at a press briefing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
“This [process] is critical for the future management of the Afghan population within Pakistan and to ensure a sustainable repatriation inside Afghanistan,” Chattha added.
The 10-week drive, costing some US $6 million, is aimed at providing millions of Afghan exiles in Pakistan with identity cards valid for three years. The cards recognise the bearer as an Afghan citizen temporarily living in Pakistan.
Some 136,000 Afghan nationals have so far been registered across Pakistan since the operation started on 15 October, while over 100,000 have been issued with the cards.
But registrations from the Afghan community have been slower than expected, putting the operation behind schedule.
“Plans were to register more than 30,000 Afghans a day, but we are registering only about 7,000 people per day,” said Saleem Moin, Chairman of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
As implementing agency, NADRA has made extensive arrangements with about 70 static and mobile registration centres manned by some 2,000 staff across the country to record detailed profiles of Afghans, including fingerprints and photos.
To convince Afghans to register, Pakistani authorities, together with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), are preparing to launch an extensive media campaign shortly.
“The media campaign, to be launched in three to four days, is primarily aimed at making Afghans aware of this initiative and to communicate the objectives of this exercise while removing any of their fears about this exercise,” Chattha told IRIN.
“Afghans have been living in Pakistan for more than two decades, they should not be fearful of expulsion or any forced repatriation. Instead, they will be getting legal status to ensure their rights as refugees,” the secretary of SAFRON explained.
“This is not a registration to deport or exclusively repatriate Afghans. It is part of protection measures and will gather information and seek to provide a much-awaited solution to their protracted situation,” Guenet Guebre-Christos, country representative of the UN refugee agency, said.
The UN refugee agency is in negotiations with Islamabad and Kabul on new return arrangements beyond 2006, possibly shifting from individual travel assistance to area-based reintegration assistance.
According to UNHCR, any future return assistance will only be given to Afghans who hold valid ID cards issued after registration.
“There have been discussions about reintegration packages of up to US $300 for each family under new cluster arrangements. But this has yet to be finalised with other partners,” Chattha told IRIN.
The registration drive is a follow-up to a comprehensive Afghan census conducted in Pakistan in February and March 2005, which found more than 3 million Afghans were still living in the country.
More than 580,000 Afghans have returned home with UNHCR assistance since the census, leaving an estimated 2.4 million Afghans still living in Pakistan today, according to UNHCR.
Only Afghans counted in the 2005 census can register after having their names checked against the census database.
ts/sc/jl
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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