Senate Committee reviews SAFRON Ministry’s actions on Afghan refugees

ISLAMABAD, July 19 (SABAH): Under the chairmanship of Senator Jan Muhammad Buledi, the Senate Committee on States and Frontier Regions on Friday held its inaugural session at the Parliament House. Senators Syed Masroor Ahsan, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, and Dost Muhammad Khan, alongside senior officials from the Ministries of SAFRON and its allied departments of Afghan Refugees Commissionerate attended the meeting.

The Committee deliberated upon SAFRON Ministry’s core responsibilities, encompassing Afghan refugee’s governance and repatriation, governance of former princely states. Notable statistics included the allocation of a budget estimate of 978.211 million rupees for the fiscal year 2024-25 to the Ministry and the current demographic breakdown of Afghan nationals in Pakistan were discussed.

It was briefed that approximately 2.9 million afghan nationals are living in Pakistan and are categorised as afghan refugees ( POR card holders )- 1.45 million and Afghan Nationals ( ACC card holders ) – 0.814 million. Furthermore, it was informed that 74% of the existing refugees are under the age of twenty five years.

The Ministry outlined its robust advocacy for sustainable repatriation efforts in collaboration with the Government of Afghanistan, UNHCR, and international partners. Enhanced financial assistance for returnees was highlighted, with UNHCR currently providing USD 375 per returnee and USD 700 per returning family. It was informed that 90% of POR card holder Afghan refugees have repatriated voluntarily. The international support to the Ministry for refugees management have decreased to a great extent and now major funding form UNHCR is through the international NGOs.

Senators Dost Mohammad Khan highlighted the social, economic, Financial and administrative problems being faced by the merged districts of ex-FATA. With the mergence of these areas, these socio-economic and administrative problems have multiplied and the responsibility lies with the Federal Government.

It was briefed that a total of 1220034 spontaneous return of unregistered afghan individuals reported by IOM as of 31st May 2024 and 4434231 registered afghan refugees as reported by UNHCR

The committee applauded SAFRON’s contributions to documentation and repatriation efforts of Afghan refugees and highlighted the Ministry has been looking after major issues and any hasty decision of winding up the Ministry may create problems in smooth repatriation of refugees. The Committee recommended that the decision of wining up the Ministry of may be reviewed. The Committee also recommended that the Ministry may be kept in loop in all the repatriation process as it is the major stakeholder and custodian of bilateral and international covenants and fora on Afghan Refugees.