Above 500,000 people displaced this year: Akhlaqi

KABUL.

The Meshrano Jirga on Tuesday summoned Akhlaqi to provide information about displaced people to the Senate.

A number of displaced families have been in bad condition particularly in Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Faryab, Takhar, Kunduz and Nangarhar provinces.

The acting refugee and repatriation minister called it difficult to deal with the Internally displaced People (IDPs), saying that 500,000 people were displaced this year in various provinces due to insecurity and threats.

He added that after 2018, the number of IDPs had increased countywide. Akhlaqi said his ministry’s current formation was less compared to the high number of refugees and displaced persons and as a result, issues being faced by refugees and displaced persons could not be addressed properly.

He said in overall around 2.9 million individuals have been displaced in Afghanistan and efforts were underway to address their issues.

According to his information, Akhlaiq said around 7,250 people have been displaced from some districts of Helmand province to its capital Lashkargah and 1600 of them had been aided.

He said so far all assistances provided to IDPs came from the Afghan government, but the aid was insufficient to meet the needs all displaced people.

The acting minister said they had shared their concerns in this regard with international organizations to help IDPs.

He said in overall around 6.657 million Afghans refugees have been living aboard particularly in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

He said 80 percent of Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan, Iran and the rest 20 percent in 70 countries of the world.

He added they had a quadripartite meeting last month, involving officials Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and UNHCR and it discussed Afghan refugees’ issues in Iran and Pakistan.

According to him, Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan travel from one province to another with problems as they cannot get a driver’s license and cannot continue their education in educational institutions, and struggle with some other problems.

However, he said efforts were underway to address Afghan refugees’ issues both at home and aboard as they had prepared a five years plan in this regard and practical work on it would be conducted after the approval of cabinet.

pk/ma