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Afghan
Peshawar Refugees Back Home
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An Afghan
refugee family gets ready to leave for Afghanistan from Pakistan. |
By
IOL Pakistan Correspondent, Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD,
March 1 (IslamOnline) - United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is
starting voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland from
Peshawar Friday.
UNHCR
spokesperson Melita Sunjic talking to IslamOnline Thursday said, "This is
an organized repatriation, starting tomorrow (March 1), adding that 126,000
Afghans have already left for the war battered Afghanistan since January."
To
a query, she said that Afghan refugees have made all the arrangements on their
own.
"They
have made all necessary arrangements, including hiring of local buses
voluntarily to travel to their homeland," she said. The refugee agency
plans to send back 400,000 Afghan refugees to Afghanistan this year.
However,
she said, "it will take sometime."
Earlier
7 centers were being set up in 3 provinces to facilitate Afghan refugees, who
aspired for voluntary return to their homeland. Melita told the agency that no
Afghan refugee would be forced to go back to Afghanistan. "The repatriation
process would be voluntary."
She
said that the repatriation process is being launched from Peshawar only. The
refugees would get $100, wheat, blankets, and other non-food items as a
repatriation
package. Refugee return process would gather momentum following the end of the
harsh winter in Afghanistan.
She
expressed concern over the deportation of 750 Afghan refugees from Dubai back to
Afghanistan. The refugees going back to their homeland would receive
humanitarian relief aid in Afghanistan.
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