Afghan Refugees Allowed To Stay In Pakistan For Another Year

The federal government has decided to extend the stay of registered Afghan refugees living in Pakistan until June 30, 2020. Around 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees reside in Pakistan. The decision, notified by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), comes during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s ongoing visit to Pakistan and days before the current extension ends in two days.

“In pursuance of approval of the Federal Cabinet conveyed vide Cabinet Division’s Memorandum No.550(S)/Rule-19/2019-Cab, dated 27 June, 2019, the Government of Pakistan is pleased to extend the Validity in respect of Tripartite Agreement, Proof of Registration (PoR) Cards till 30-06-2020,” read the notification.

The ministry also announced an extension in the validity of Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) till October 31, 2019.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also informed the Afghan president about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s decision.

As per data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there were 1,405,715 registered Afghan refugees and 210,465 Afghan families in Pakistan as of June 3, 2019.

The UN refugee agency defines registered Afghans as those who have valid Proof of Registration (PoR) cards issued by the Pakistani government.

The data shows the agency facilitated voluntary repatriation of 4,374,208 Afghan refugees from 2002 till December 4, 2018. This year – till June 24, 2019 – UNHCR has facilitated the voluntary repatriation of 2,036 Afghan refugees.