Young Afghans reluctant to go home

Young Afghans living in Pakistan are reluctant to return to their home country as required by a new order from the Pakistani government.

Ramesh Ahmed Saqi, a 27-year-old electronics mechanic in Rawalpindi city, adjacent to the capital, Islamabad, has been in Pakistan since he was two years old. Saqi's parents fled Kabul in late 1981.

"We are not rich, but can afford a modest peaceful living here. My siblings can attend school and we can make ends meet," said Saqi, who is also a part-time musician.

Saqi is among more than 2.1 million Afghans registered by Pakistani authorities in a four-month countrywide campaign that ended on 15 February 2007. More than 75 percent, like Saqi, are younger than 30, mostly born during their parents' exile, the exercise revealed.

Since the registration process, Pakistani authorities have announced that all Afghans will have to be repatriated by the end of 2009.

Curious about prospects in his homeland, Saqi visited Kabul last summer for the first time. "It was so scary [in Kabul]. One can't go outside. No job opportunities, rents are too high and so is the cost of living. There are no proper public service facilities like we have here," he said, adding that he would like to stay in Pakistan.

Such sentiments are not uncommon among the 1.5 million Afghans in Pakistan below the age of 30.

"This is a new generation, many of whom were born and brought up here [in Pakistan] in a facilitated environment, where they are exposed to living with urban comforts, infrastructure and a cultural setting," said Faisal Gorchani of the Sustainable Development and Policy Institute (SDPI), a leading policy advocacy group in Islamabad.

"Most of these second generation Afghans have no idea of their parents' original homeland and repatriation back to Afghanistan is in no way a viable option for them," Gorchani said.

A large number of Afghans living in Pakistan for decades, particularly the 1.3 million in the North West Frontier Province that borders on Afghanistan, are fully integrated into the local community.

"Pashtun-origin Afghans, whether in NWFP or Balochistan, are like their Pakistani fellows. Many have established businesses here," said Haroon Rashid, an analyst in Peshawar, the NWFP capital.

"Lack of security in some areas [of Afghanistan] is one thing but there are no opportunities for people to relocate their businesses. There is no infrastructure to absorb more people there," Rashid added. "Without developing local conditions, how could all the Afghans be sent back?"

A flexible return schedule - not with deadlines of months and years, but of decades - could be one solution, analysts say.

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