The head of the UN refugee agency Filippo Grandi on Tuesday met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the situation of millions of Afghan refugees living in uncertainty since Islamabad announced a repatriation plan of what it called "und🃏ocumented aliens" last year.
During his meeting with Grandi, Commissioner of the UNHCR, Sharif urged the international community to recognise the “burden of Afghan refugees” being s🧸houldered by Pakistan and demonstrate “collective responsibility” to deal with the issue, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The United Nations High Commiꦡssioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrived in Pakistan on Sunday on a three-day visit.
“The prime minister stressed that the international community mus♏t recognise the burden being shouldered by Pakistan while hosting such a large refugee population, and demonstrate collective responsibility,” a statement fro𒈔m the PM’s Office said.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader 🌠added that despite numerous challenges, the country had hosted Afghan ﷽refugees with exemplary respect and dignity.
Sharif sought UNHCR’s support in mobilising adequate resour♔ces to supplement Pakistan’s efforts in this regard, urging the global refugee agency to play its role in coming up with durable solutions to address the situation of Afghan r🍒efugees.
The prime minister emphasised that the internationa𒉰l community needed to be mindful of the socio-economic challenges and security threats that Pakistan was facing, the Dawn reported.
“The UN High Commissioner expressed gratitude for Pakistan’s generosity and hospitality in hosting millions of Afghan refugees for the past many decades and ෴assured that UNHCR would continue to work closely with Pakistan to fulfil the basic needs of the Afghan refugees,” the statement added.
Pakistan launched the first round ofཧ r🉐epatriation of what it called “undocumented aliens” in November last year.
While no official data has been released as to how many of the estimated undocumented Afghans have left the🦹ir country since November, the newspaper quoting informed 🌱sources said that half a million immigrants returned to Afghanistan via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the first round.
On Monday, Grandi met with Pakistan’s Minister for States and Frontier Regions,🌞 Amir Muqam, and said that UNHCR would organise a global dialogue, most likely in ✅October, to discuss refugee-related issues, the Dawn said.
“Pakistan wo꧑uld be specially invited at this occasion,” the UNHCR chief said. He expressed the hope that the event will create a new dimension and avenues for the support of refugees across the globe.
“Currently, there are 1.45 million registered Afghan citizens card holders and this does not include a great number of unregistered Afghan refugees and other nati🌜onals,” federal minister Muqam said.
He added that it was a “matter of concern” that th♈ere was a decline in supportﷺ for Afghan refugees and development funds for their hosting areas in Pakistan.
“We need exclu𒈔sive, generous and sustainable interventions,” he said.
Grandi on Monday also called on Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and appreciated Pakistan’s efforts and contributions i♏n hosting Afghan refugees for decades, according to a statement by the foreign ministry.
