Afghans in capital concerned at eviction

Tens of thousands of Afghans living in and around the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, not being residents of registered refugee accommodation, are uncertain about their future, as the government deadline for them to either return to Afghanistan or move out of their homes draws nearer. The Pakistani authorities announced earlier this month that they want the Afghans to relocate by 15 September. "We do not have enough resources to restart our lives after getting back to Afghanistan. We can hardly subsist here and whatever assistance the [office of the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees] UNHCR offers is too meagre to pay for us to get over there and also rebuild our lives simultaneously," said Muhammad Nabi, an Afghan who has been living in a shanty area of Islamabad for more than six years. Pakistani officials announced the deadline in the first week of August specifying that residents of unofficial settlements had to leave, citing security concerns as the main reason for the order. Five unregistered informal settlements house over 30,000 Afghans out of a total of 45,000 living in the capital, according to a census of the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan conducted earlier this year. The Afghans subject to the new ruling have been offered two options: repatriation through UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme or relocation to a refugee camp located in the Mianwali district of Punjab province, some 180 km southwest of Islamabad. Many Afghans have jobs in the capital and fear relocation will mean the loss of employment. "We, mostly, are daily wage labourers, working in the nearby fruit and vegetable market. But, in Mianwali camp, male members of Afghan families living there have to travel to the eastern city of Lahore or come to Islamabad and [the nearby city of] Rawalpindi to work during the week and return to their homes only on weekends or sometimes even just fortnightly," explained Afghan resident, Abd-ul-Qadir, who lives in the capital. The Afghan community is imploring the government to allow them to stay until after the harsh winter period giving them a chance to better plan their relocation. "If the authorities wanted us to leave, why didn't they clearly announce by the start of summer what they planned, so that we could have made appropriate arrangements for relocation and finding shelter inside Afghanistan?" Afghan national, Afzal Khan, asked. In the past, many Afghans who have returned to their native homes during or just before the onset of winter, have died of exposure or starvation as there is often a severe shortage of both food and shelter for returnees. "One can easily see these repatriating Afghans living in basic camps pitched on the outskirts of Kabul [the Afghan capital] and no one is there to support them during the harsh winter or otherwise," Khan maintained. According to UNHCR the rate of Afghan repatriation from the capital city, so far, has been slow. "Since the 11 August, after the announcement of a timeline [for Afghans to leave], only about 800 individuals have repatriated from the slum areas," Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman, said. The UN refugee agency has assisted more than 2.5 million Afghans to repatriate from Pakistan since the voluntary repatriation programme started in 2002, including some 242,000 so far this year. Civic authorities in the federal capital say they originally served notice to quit on the Afghan community more than two years ago. This time around, they say, there will be no reprieve. They want the Afghan population of the informal settlements, which they call unsanitary, unhealthy eyesores, to move on by the 15 September deadline.