Undocumented/unregistered Afghans: Afghanistan agrees on repatriation by June

The Afghan government has, in principle, agreed on repatriation of undocumented/unregistered Afghans by June 2019 who are around 0.5 million in number with yet to be identified location of residencies, said Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Saleem Khan.
Briefing National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees said that a countrywide survey and mapping will be conducted at the first phase to locate the undocumented/unregistered Afghans who are a major security concern for the country before their deportation to their home country.
Giving details, he said that there are three categories of the Afghan nationals currently living in Pakistan; (i) registered Afghan refugees with a total number of 1.4 million, (ii) newly-documented Afghans (Afghan citizen card holders) with a total population of 0.84 million, and (iii) undocumented/unregistered Afghans with a total number of 0.5 million.
He said that the registered Afghan refugees cannot be forced to return to their country unless the favorable environment is in place in their home country. For the second category, he said that the Pakistani government together with Afghan government has issued 840,000 cards after the later recognised them as the Afghan nationals.
He further said that they are being encouraged to go back to their home country and return back to Pakistan after proper documentation - valid Pakistani visas. He said that Pakistan is issuing around one million visas annually to Afghan nationals and they will be welcomed in the country through proper documentation and valid visas.
Committee chairmen MNA Sajid Khan suggested that the government should give nationality to Afghan nationals on trial basis for 10 years through an appropriate legislation. He said that it will also be beneficial for the country's economy if they are given the nationality as most of them are doing business abroad.
Committee member Abdul Shakoor Shad opposed the suggestion, who stated that Afghanistan is no more a friendly country and the Afghans living in the country are a major burden on the country's economy. "They [Afghans] should be deported to their country as they are posing serious security threats and we should focus on our own country," he added.
He also suggested that Pakistan should also review the Afghan transit trade facility, as it is costing Pakistan's own economy.
In his response, the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees said that talks are under way with the Afghan government on many issues including the transit trade under Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).
He further said that Afghan nationality card holders, if found guilty in any crime, are immediately deported to their home country.
Responding to queries by other members about the Prime Minister's announcement allowing the Afghans to open accounts in Pakistani banks, he said that it was in the larger interest of the country that they should open their bank accounts which will not only help the country's economy, but would also help the government keep an eye on their transactions.
He said that it is also in line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements to legalise the outflow and inflow of the foreign exchange.
Briefing the panel regarding erstwhile FATA, Secretary SAFRON Mohammad Aslam said that after the 25th Constitutional amendment, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (erstwhile PATA) were merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and therefore, the President or the Federation cannot make regulations for erstwhile FATA anymore.
He further informed that all the functions performed by the erstwhile FATA Secretariat, its secretaries and directorates also transferred to the concerned departments of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
About Levies and Khasadar Force, he informed the committee that after repealing the Regulation of 2012, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government promulgated two ordinances on March 12, 2019 (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ORD.NO.I of 2019) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khasadar Force (Maintenance, Regulation and Protection of Service) (Transition) Ordinance ORD. No. II of 2019 and therefore the two forces stand provincialised and the Ministry of SAFRON has no role anymore in respect of the two said forces.
The committee recommended that secretary Home Department and Tribal Affairs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be invited in the next meeting to brief the committee on the steps are being taken with regard to the future status of the Khasadar Force.
To a question, the secretary said that the total revenue of the erstwhile FATA is Rs 200 million, adding that erstwhile FATA will get an additional Rs 10 billion this year while the total agreed amount is Rs 1,000 billion to be given to the ex-FATA for 10 years. He also stated that erstwhile FATA has been exempted from taxes for five years and at present there is no tax collected in the ex-FATA anywhere.
On this MNA Shahid Ahmad stated only one border in FATA, the Torkham crossing, has the potential to generate even more than Rs 200 million in a single day. "How could the total revenue of ex-FATA be only Rs 200 million?" the MNA asked.
However, in his response, the secretary said that the money generated under the heads of various duties and levies is locally collected by the local administration.