The United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) has announced that the census of Afghan refugees would end on March 10 instead of March 4 because of operational difficulties and unfavourable weather in NWFP and Balochistan. The census will be completed in Balochistan on March 10, and in Punjab, Sindh and NWFP on March 6. Head of UNHCR Census Involvement Agency Indrika Ratwatte announced this while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.
Federal parliamentary secretary on statistics Dr Rozina Tufail and chief census commissioner Najam Hussain were also present on the occasion.
To a question, Indrika said that so far census teams have counted about 1.7 million Afghans either living in camps or in other localities across the country.
The chief census commission told the newsmen that the number could be raised up to maximum 2.3 million on the conclusion of the ongoing practice.
Roazina Tufail in response to a query made it clear that no penalty will be imposed on those Afghans who failed to get themselves registered during the census.
The prime objective of the exercise was to know how many Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan. The UNHCR head said counting in most of the country had been completed in nine days of intensive activity.
There may also be some small pockets of Afghan population elsewhere that will require an extra day or two to complete, he said.
The teams have accessed the vast majority of areas," Ratwatte said.
However, due to constraints linked to logistics and bad weather enumerators need more time to reach certain locations," the UNHCR official told reporters.
Data collected by 2,640 enumerators hired by the government is being transferred to a processing centre in Islamabad at the end of each day and full results should be available by the middle of this month, he pointed out.
The census, conducted by the government's Population Census Organisation with the assistance of UNHCR, is recording all Afghans living in Pakistan who arrived after December 1, 1979.
Dr Rozina Tufail said that expected output of the census will lead to the establishment of an accurate statistical record of Afghans living in different parts of Pakistan; development of a database and profile; and categorisation of the Afghan population.
She said the process will also help in comprehensive solution of cases of these Afghan citizens who went to live in Pakistan after the expiry of the tripartite agreement.
Participation is mandatory and only those Afghans who are included in the census will be able to take part subsequently in a proposed registration process that could provide individual documentation.
The $750,000 census, which is completely separate from UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme, is the first attempt to get a precise figure on the number of Afghans who have come to Pakistan since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 which triggered a refugee exodus.
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