Afghanistan Times
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By Akhtar M. Nikzad-KABUL: Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) on Wednesday said that Pakistan would register all undocumented Afghan refugees within next 100 days.
Briefing reporters on the 100-day action plan that he presented to the president, more than a week ago, Minister for Refugees and Repatriation said that Afghan refugees in Pakistan would not have to worry anymore that they would be deported.
Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi said that 1.5 million Afghans in the neighboring Pakistan are living without legal documents. He said that after multiple rounds of negotiations with Pakistani officials, Islamabad has agreed to register the refugees.
“Pakistan will sign an agreement with the Afghan government to legalize the stay of Afghan refugees. Next week a delegation from Afghanistan will leave for Islamabad to discuss the registration process and living condition of the refugees,” he said, hoping that the agreement would be inked within next three months.
He further said that legalization of Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan, and voluntary repatriation were priorities of the MoRR. “Next month we will have negotiations with Iran about registration of Afghan refugees. We will also ask Iran to provide needed educational facilities to the refugees,” he said.
Balkhi said that negotiations would be resumed with eight European Union countries in order to resolve problems of Afghan immigrants.
Australia and a few European Union member countries deported some Afghan refugees. These countries violated the agreements on status of immigrants, he added.
The minister said that a survey would be conducted to find out exact number of the internally displaced people in the country.
