The numbers of refugees returning to Afghanistan has tripled as Pakistan’s deadline for their expulsion is on Wednesday.
Three thousand families came through Torkham crossing into Afghanistan on November 1, officials at the directorate of information and culture of Nangarhar province said.
The fresh returnees have called on the international community to cut off their refugee-related aid to Pakistan and to provide assistance to those who are returning to Afghanistan.
“We are facing a worse situation than Palestinians. I cannot look at the faces of my wife and children,” said Ahmadullah, a returnee.
“Those who have land and markets are worried. It is rumored that their property is being confiscated by the Pakistani government,” said Shakeel Ahmad, another returnee.
Pakistan is expelling those refugees who are grappling with dire economic issues, said the Afghans who have returned from Pakistan.
They urged the Afghan investors in Pakistan to shift their investments to Afghanistan.
“It doesn’t matter if they have legal documents or not, if they are poor they are being expelled. Afghans in Pakistan have big businesses but they are still living there,” said Wahidullah, a fresh returnee from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, officials of the Islamic Emirate said they are well-prepared to resettle those who come back from Pakistan, and added that they have prepared a provisional resettlement facility for five thousand people in Torkham crossing.
“Those foreign-based Afghans who do not have land in Afghanistan and want to invest in the country, we have plans for them. We have allocated two billion afghanis which will be spent on basic needs of returnees,” said Khalil Rahman Haqqani, the acting minister for refugees and repatriation.
“After the deadline was announced by the Pakistani government, the returnees’ number increased by three times and they are still coming to Afghanistan,” said Qureshi Badlon, an official at the directorate of information and culture of Nangarhar province.
Following the deadline announcement by Pakistan’s caretaker government, 25,000 Afghan families have returned home so far through Torkham crossing in the east of Afghanistan.
