JALALABAD (Pajhwok): United Nations agencies have provided assistance to about 140,000 Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan during the past two months, officials say.
According to the UN, about 400,000 Afghan refugees have returned to the country through Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings during this period and in addition to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the returnees received assistance from UN organizations.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has established a registration and aid distribution centre in Samarkhel area of Jalalabad city, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, to provide assistance to the returning families
At the UNHCR center, the returnees are first registered and biometrically verified before being given cash assistance. The refugees are also provided awareness about landmines and health services.
Zefanon Kainat, registration and biometric officer at the women’s section of the centre, said about hundred women were daily registered in the center.
Ghulam Nabi, who recently returned from Pakistan, said in addition to government assistance, UNHCR also assisted him.
Meanwhile, International Organization for Migration is also assisting the returnees in Momand Dara district near Torkham town.
Navidullah Yousafzai, information officer of the center, said that 140,000 refugees had been helped by IOM so far.
He said: “We provide assistance to returnees who do not have legal residency document in Pakistan, about 150,000 illegal Afghan refugees have returned the country through Torkham crossing so far and we provided assistance to about 140,000.”
Returnees happy with UN aid
Awal Dad, who lived in Rawalpindi of Pakistan and has recently returned to the country, received help from the UN.
Sofia Glazunova, head of the protection department of UNHCR in Afghanistan, said about 400,000 Afghan refugees had returned to the country through Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings during the past two months.
She said most of the returnees were women and children.
She added: “We are trying to help these families resettle with our related and other organizations, we also help them in the fields of education and profession, our help is mostly in the field of resettlement.”
The government of Pakistan had set November 1 deadline for all refugees lacking legal residency documents to leave the country or face mass deportations.
According to reports, Afghan refugees with legal documents are also being arrested, their houses demolished and many forcibly evicted from Pakistan.
Earlier, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ (IEA) spokesman, had said more than 400,000 Afghan refugees have returned to the country from Pakistan since November 1.
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