PAKISTAN: 1,500 AFGHAN REFUGEES SET TO HEAD HOME FROM PAKISTAN.

Record ID: 275215

  • Title: PAKISTAN: 1,500 AFGHAN REFUGEES SET TO HEAD HOME FROM PAKISTAN.
  • Date: 18th September 2000
  • Summary: QUETTA, PAKISTAN (SEPTEMBER 17, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: AFGHAN REFUGEE CAMP 0.06 2. GV/MV: CHILDREN (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. GV: UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONVOY ARRIVING 0.29 4. MV: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) SADAKO OGATA GREETED 0.35 5. MV: AFGHAN CHILDREN STANDING 0.40
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QUETTA, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA9GVPK9SBWWWGO8LQU2O1JST0F
  • Story Text: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
    Sadako Ogata, has seen off a convoy of some 1,500 Afghan
    refugees who were headed home from Pakistan.



    Ogata saw off the convoy of trucks carrying Afghan
    200 families Sunday (September 17) as she made a visit to the
    camp outside the southern city of Quetta in Pakistan.

    After inspecting the refugee camp Ogata said: "We
    really have a
    lot of requests for (them to) return and my office is always
    full with
    applications. But what we want to do is to make sure that the
    return will be sustainable. Also that these refugees don't
    come
    back and for that we will have to be a little bit sure."
    Many repatriated Afghan refugees return to Pakistan after
    staying for some time in Afghanistan, a country they left
    during two decades of conflict, poverty and acute hardships.

    UNHCR gives 5,000 rupees ($91) and a bag of wheat to each
    repatriated refugee family of six to eight people to help them
    meet initial expenses on their return home, officials said.

    They said they could not provide any more help in the
    present situation.

    Ogata's trip is seen as an effort to draw world attention
    to the plight of millions of Afghan refugees scattered in
    Pakistan and Iran and unable to return because of lack of
    resources, scarcity of jobs and a drought, the worst in 30
    years to hit the region.

    Nasim Khan, a 30-year-old Afghan refugee, told Reuters
    he was returning to home after 20 years with hopes of
    rebuilding a life and a family devastated by the Soviet
    occupation of the country in 1980's.

    He said he also wanted to escape the drudgery of life in
    Pakistan where he earned up to 60 rupees ($1. 10) a day by
    repairing watches.

    UNHCR says its programme to send about 100,000 refugees
    to Afghanistan each year has shown good results.

    From a peak of 6. 2 million Afghan refugees who fled to
    Pakistan and Iran, UNHCR says more than 4.2 million have
    returned home since 1992, most of them with help from the
    agency.

    But local officials say Pakistan still hosts some 1. 2
    million Afghan refugees registered with authorities and nearly
    the same number living in the country unregistered.

    Ogata, who was due to meet officials of the ruling Taleban
    movement in Herat before going to Iran, said on Saturday
    (September 16) the world must be alerted to the condition of
    Afghan refugees in Pakistan, most of whom live in the North
    West Frontier province.




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