PESHAWAR: More than 100,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan since July, UNHCR officials said on Thursday. They said the highest number since the fall of the Taliban saw a flood of people across the border in 2002. UNHCR spokesman Qaisar Khan Afridi said the majority of refugees crossed in July and August at the Voluntary Repatriation Centre outside the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border. According to UNHCR figures, prior to that, in the six months, just 7,000 refugees crossed back into Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said the increase came after they vowed to tighten border controls, particularly at the porous Torkham Gate crossing. However, UNHCR cited an array of other reasons that could be help drive the rush back into war-torn Afghanistan, including increasing anxiety and insecurity for refugees about life in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to 1.5 million registered and about as many undocumented Afghan refugees, with growing insecurity in Afghanistan impeding voluntary return programmes, the officials said. UNHCR said that refugees were increasingly anxious about their future in Pakistan. In June, Islamabad granted Afghan refugees an extra six months to remain in Pakistan, as authorities stepped up efforts to work with the UN and Kabul to relocate camps to Afghanistan, while fears are growing that the December deadline will be final. A security crackdown against undocumented foreigners has also contributed to the decision to leave, despite assurances from Pakistani authorities that refugees with the correct documents will not be subject to arrest or deportation, UNHCR said. The other factors include UNHCR decision to double its cash grant for voluntary returnees from $200 to $400 per individual in June, and a campaign by the Afghan government to lure its citizens back with the slogan “My country, my beautiful country”.
