Afghan refugees’ voluntary return begins

[IceCold]

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Updated at: 1425 PST, Sunday, April 20, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Afghan refugees’ voluntary return operation from Jallozai Camp resumed Sunday after reopening of the Pak-Afghan Highway.

The road was closed for all traffic after clashes between a religious group and Kukikhel tribesmen in tehsil Jamrud of Khyber Agency.

The UN refugee agency had suspended the return operation of Afghan refugees due to blockade of the highway.

After a five-day suspension the repatriation of Afghan refugees resumed on Sunday.

“After opening of the road 116 Afghan families have returned home from Jallozai refugee camp,” Afghan Commissionariat sources said.

Over 300 Afghan families have got them registered for voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan and they will likely to return home tomorrow.

According to sources the operation has been completed in Jallozai refugee camp Bazaar and all shops have been demolished.

[IceCold]

Finally at last, the trash seems to be going back after years of hurting and severly damaging pakistan's economy and clamining their rights on the pashtun areas of pakistan. We have already suffered enough and more recently by the afghan terrorist elements. We do however need to secure our border by every means and reduce this infiltration to its max.

[roadrunner]

We do however need to secure our border by every means and reduce this infiltration to its max.

This is not possible. The Durand Line is an artificial line that bissects an ethnic group of more or less similar people - that's not to say I don't agree with it, as it is legal. But to think you can stop or "reduce" Afghanis from crossing over, or Pakistan Pashtuns from crossing over, is living in a fool's paradise. Mining the border over the full length with an broad minefield might work, but would not be humanitarianly justifiable. In fact it would cause problems in Pakistan since people would not support it. There was a reason MMA came into politics in Pakistan, that reason was nothing to do with Pakistan. You are underestimating the support most people have for each other on either side of the Durand Line.

[IceCold]

There was a reason MMA came into politics in Pakistan, that reason was nothing to do with Pakistan. You are underestimating the support most people have for each other on either side of the Durand Line.

MMA came into the politics and the very same reason they got their *** kicked so badly in the elections that it will take along time for them to get it repaired. And as far as durand line line is concerned who cares what the afghans have to say, we can make it a permanent border either the right way or the hard way depends upon how karzai wants it to be, its his call, but we have suffered enough damage and blackmailing at the hands of these afghans and we need to take care of this mess once and for all. Also about the point that you mentioned about humanitarian diaster, well people do need to realize from both sides of the border what does an international border means, and if they still decide to cross it, it is their choice and GOP cannot be held responsible for it.

[Always Neutral]

MMA And as far as durand line line is concerned who cares what the afghans have to say, we can make it a permanent border either the right way or the hard way depends upon how karzai wants it to be, its his call, but we have suffered enough damage and blackmailing at the hands of these afghans and we need to take care of this mess once and for all.

Even if it means a civil war in Pakistan ? Thats if the US allows you.

Regards

[Neo]

Mining the border over the full length with an broad minefield might work, but would not be humanitarianly justifiable. In fact it would cause problems in Pakistan since people would not support it. There was a reason MMA came into politics in Pakistan, that reason was nothing to do with Pakistan.

Our national security and interest come first. Israel did the same and got away with it, why can't we?

You are underestimating the support most people have for each other on either side of the Durand Line.

Sir after partition most Punjabi and Mohajor families were devided, yet we learned to live with the devide.
Imho we're overestimation the importance of the Durand Line, like you said its an imaginary thing, an old pact with died with the Afghan Kings and the British Raj in India.
We need to move on with our lives, so should the Afghans at their side of the international border.

[roadrunner]

Our national security and interest come first. Israel did the same and got away with it, why can't we?

The difference between the Israeli wall, and the as of now hypothetical minefield along the Durand Line is that the Israeli Jews have no prior history or amicable relationship with the Arab Muslims in Palestine. If one wants to compare this situation to the Israeli one, one needs to imagine a partition wall running through the middle of an Israeli Jewish neighbourhood. This would be opposed by the Israelis. Of course an invisible partition that only exists on a map wouldn't be a problem.

Sir after partition most Punjabi and Mohajor families were devided, yet we learned to live with the devide.
Imho we're overestimation the importance of the Durand Line, like you said its an imaginary thing, an old pact with died with the Afghan Kings and the British Raj in India.
We need to move on with our lives, so should the Afghans at their side of the international border.

The Durand Line is imaginary but it is a legal international border. Noone pays any attention to it on either side of the border. It might as well not be there.

[IceCold]

Even if it means a civil war in Pakistan ? Thats if the US allows you.

Regards

First of all AN, there will be not civil war just because some afghans have ethnic relationships on this side of the border. The fact is there they are afghans and we are pakistanies, once development starts to take place in these areas, who will care about these afghans. Neo have very well given the example of mohajirs.
Now coming to the seond part of your post, if the US allows that to happen, well my friend things have been changing lately, if you have noticed and we necessarily dont ask for permissions, having a mutual discussion with all the parties included in the region, that includes US as well, does not mean that we are waiting for a green signal, when the time comes, we will go forward with or without the consent of the USA.

[Neo]

Pakistan resumes forcing Afghan refugees to return home

By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Apr 21, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities have resumed sending tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived for decades in camps near the Afghanistan - Pakistan border, back to Afghanistan .

The ouster of the Afghans from the massive Jalozai refugee camp just east of Peshawar was put on hold last week after fighting broke out along the highway that leads through the legendary Khyber Pass to the Afghan border.

On Sunday, however, brightly colored trucks were making their way through the pass again, loaded with the worldly possessions of thousands of Afghan families. Women and children perched on top as the trucks lurched forward.

An estimated 2,000 Afghan refugees passed through the border checkpoint at Torkham on Sunday. They came in giant, open-top trucks, heavily laden with everything from doors, window frames and beds to piles of wooden beams and planks that will be used to construct homes in Afghanistan .

Rahul Amin , a bus conductor, was born in Jalozai. Now 19, he said that Pakistan is his home.

"We don't think of Afghanistan as our country," he said. "When I have raised my voice, it is for Pakistan ."

Jalozai was established in 1980 as Afghans began fleeing the Soviet invasion of their country, and it was the largest and oldest camp for Afghan refugees in Pakistan , once housing 80,000 people in a small city of solid mud or brick homes, electricity, running water and schools.

Last week, bulldozers moved in to begin demolition, making rubble of the houses and shops that once stood along the settlement's main road. Neat piles of bricks and wood marked what some refugees had salvaged for resale. Others are taking the material with them.

Shah Ghasi, 70, sat alongside a pile of wood, hoping for customers. His home in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan , was destroyed during the Soviet invasion of the 1980s. He's been at Jalozai for 24 years.

"We are homeless here now, and we will be homeless there" in Afghanistan , he said. "I don't have the money to go."

More than 3 million Afghans fled to Pakistan , where they've lived ever since without being given citizenship.

"In other countries, you get citizenship after five years, here you don't get it after 20 years," said 21-year-old Hazmat Khan. "This (Jalozai) was just a jungle. We turned it into a town. There wasn't even a donkey here before."

"My younger brother went to Kabul . He doesn't have so much as water there."

A Pakistani official at the camp, who declined to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters, said that 1,043 families had left the camp as of Saturday. Some 10,000 families remain.

The official said that refugees had the option of relocating to another camp, but just 38 families had done so. "They signed a contract with us; 50 (Afghan) elders signed an agreement to leave. Their continued stay here is illegal," he said.

It costs about $400 to hire a truck to take a family and its possessions to Afghanistan . In Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, returning families can claim $100 per person from the United Nations .

Pakistani authorities had set April 15 as the deadline for all refugees to leave Jalozai. It was the second deadline; the first had been extended by six months. But this time, the authorities meant business, sending in the bulldozers.

Pakistan plans to send all Afghan refugees back by the end of 2009. But the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan has warned that so speedy a resettlement program risks creating a humanitarian crisis, given the conflict in Afghanistan .

"There are not the jobs for these people in Afghanistan . It is not sustainable," said UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan in Islamabad . "They will only come back to Pakistan ."

Pakistan's haste may be tied to security concerns. Jalozai and other camps were once the breeding ground for anti-Soviet jihadis. These days, a different breed of ******, the Taliban, are believed to use them as places to rest between campaigns.

The Shamshatoo camp is associated with Afghan military commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, while Ustad Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a veteran mujaheddin fighter and hard-line Islamic theologian, allegedly ran Jalozai.

"You never know who comes and who goes in these camps," said Mehmood Shah , a former top provincial interior ministry official. "The government of Pakistan has decided that the Afghan mujaheddin must finally go back."

Shah said that the U.S. officials he'd discussed the issue with were uncertain whether closing the camps was a good idea.

"The U.S. was 50/50 on this issue," Shah said.

Pakistan resumes forcing Afghan refugees to return home - Yahoo! News

[roadrunner]

^^That's a poor article imo. The heading describes it as "forced returns", when Pakistan is doing nothing of the sort. There's a $100 incentive together with the option of returning to Afghanistan involved. Poor Journalism. Instead of forced, it is mroe like voluntary or assisted returning. To get a more accurate article, read this.


Hard decisions as Pakistan's largest refugee village faces closure

JALOZAI, Pakistan, February 28 (UNHCR) – The long-running saga of Jalozai, Pakistan's largest Afghan refugee village, could soon come to an end. Affected Afghans will have to make some hard decisions as the April 15 deadline for closure approaches.

The decision to close Jalozai – located in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) – was based on security concerns and endorsed by a tripartite commission comprising the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UN refugee agency in 2006 and 2007.
Jalozai used to host nearly 110,000 registered Afghans who had fled years of conflict in Afghanistan. As the authorities started to close the sprawling settlement last August, some 25,000 inhabitants repatriated to Afghanistan.

Fearing mass displacement and a humanitarian crisis on the eve of winter, UNHCR and the Afghan authorities requested a temporary suspension of the closure. As a result, Jalozai's Afghan elders signed an undertaking to vacate the refugee village between March 1 and April 15 this year. They were given two options: voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan or relocation to an existing refugee settlement in Pakistan.

"We are aware that the extended government deadline is looming above our heads and we are not going to challenge the government's decision," said Aziz Khan, a refugee elder originally from Paktya province in south-eastern Afghanistan. "However making a decision to go back may not be possible for me due to reasons including security, hardships in reintegrating and the differences we have with a few powerful people there."

Maulvi Sahib Toti, from Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, agreed: "Afghanistan has still not fully recovered from decades of fighting. We are aware of everything that happens there. We know that there are economic hardships for people who returned before us. There is very little opportunity to earn a living where we come from and above that, there is a sense of insecurity."

Asked if he would move to another refugee village in Pakistan, he said, "Our problem is that we want to make a single decision that is long lasting for us. If we decide to relocate somewhere else in Pakistan, then after a year or two we may have to uproot ourselves again, when we want to return home to Afghanistan. All this just adds up to make the decision more difficult for us."

Recognizing the inevitability of Jalozai's closure and the difficult decisions facing its residents, UNHCR has been working closely with the Afghans and Pakistan authorities to ensure a smooth and peaceful end to the saga.

"For those who want to repatriate voluntarily, we have asked them to give us their names and details. We plan to schedule them to avoid a last-minute rush at the voluntary repatriation centre," said Mohammed Adar, head of UNHCR in Peshawar. "Where possible, we'll prioritize Afghans going to warmer areas in eastern Afghanistan. Those from colder provinces, such as the north, will be scheduled for April."

Afghans returning home with UNHCR help are entitled to an average cash grant of US$100 per person to cover their travel and initial reintegration expenses.

Jalozai residents who feel they cannot repatriate have been informed of their relocation options in Pakistan – to existing refugee villages in NWFP's Dir and Chitral districts. UNHCR has negotiated with the authorities to allow relocation to Kot Chandna refugee settlement in Punjab province.

Those who wish to relocate can use basic services like health, education, water and sanitation. UNHCR will also arrange transport for the relocating refugees. Go-and-see visits are being organized to give Jalozai representatives a clearer picture of the social services and livelihood opportunities available in these areas.

With just six weeks to vacate Jalozai, Sahib Toti from Kunar, is waiting for a miracle should the Pakistan government change its mind about closing Jalozai. That, according to government officials in Pakistan, will not come this time. "There will be no further extension," Dr. Imran Zeb, Pakistan's Commissioner for Afghan Refugees in Islamabad, told a national newspaper recently.

Some 80,000 registered Afghans remain in Jalozai today. A breakdown of this population shows that some 18 percent come from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, 15 percent from Kabul, 12 percent each from Kunar and Paktya provinces and 8 percent from Jawzjan.

Currently there are some 2 million registered Afghans in Pakistan who are allowed to stay in the country till the end of 2009.

By Babar Baloch
in Jalozai, Pakistan
UNHCR - Hard decisions as Pakistan's largest refugee village faces closure

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All refugees should be returned, and if they don't cooperate, they should be deported.