Pakistan may extend stay of Afghans with PoR cards

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): The government is expected to decide the fate of Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, Dawn reported on Wednesday.

Only 9,000 out of 70,000 Afghans, who had worked for the United States and allies before the IEA takeover, had been sent to a third country from Pakistan over the last three years.

At its meeting later in the day (Wednesday), the federal cabinet was likely to take a decision on the fate of the Afghan nationals living in Pakistan, the newspaper said.

An unnamed official told the daily the Afghans with proof of residence (PoR) cards could get an extension in their stay for six months or one year.

“The cabinet will decide whether to extend the proof of residence card issued to Afghan refugees for six months or a year,” he revealed.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also conferred on the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Shahbaz complained that only 9,000 of 70,000 Afghans, who arrived in Pakistan after the fall of Kabul in 2021, had been sent to a third country in the past three years.

The UN refugee agencies had previously urged Pakistan not to repatriate these 70,000 Afghans as their lives would be in danger if sent back to Afghanistan.

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