Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 17:33:47 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: PAKISTAN: Persecution fears for involuntary Afghan returnees
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PAKISTAN: Persecution fears for involuntary Afghan returnees 

ISLAMABAD, 21 March (IRIN) - Faced with over 170,000 new Afghan refugees
since June last year, the authorities in Pakistan have become increasingly
vocal about relocating new arrivals back to camps in Afghanistan, but aid
workers are concerned that an involuntary return could expose many
refugees to harassment by the Taliban Islamic Movement.

Media reports from Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province
(NWFP), have indicated that some 10,000 Afghans without formal documents
were sent back by the local authorities in February.  Pakistani officials
claim that the two million refugees the country is hosting place an
excessive burden on the economy. NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah
told IRIN that the refugees were "economic benefit seekers" who had fled
drought and not civil war in Afghanistan. 

This stance reflected Pakistan's previous experience in refugee issues,
according to Anders Fange of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

"The desire not to see more Afghans settle in Pakistan stems from the
knowledge that once refugees settle in a country, it is extremely
difficult to make them go back," he said. 

Pakistan would like to see a repeat of 1992, when the border was closed,
forcing the international community to erect huge camps near Jalalabad in
eastern Afghanistan, Fange said.  The view of the authorities in Islamabad
was that displaced people inside Afghan camps would return home more
rapidly than refugees in Pakistan, he added.

"But this does not solve the issue of people fleeing war or those fleeing
political persecution from either of the warring factions [the Taliban and
opposition Northern Alliance]," according to Fange. "Pakistan has a
responsibility to provide asylum to these people," he said. 

A recent WFP survey in the refugee camps of Shamshatoo and Akora Khattak
near Peshawar dispelled the impression that most refugees crossing the
Torkham border into Pakistan were "economic migrants" escaping the
drought. 

Nine out of 10 people interviewed by WFP said that conflict had been a
significant factor in their decision to leave. The survey demonstrated
that an overwhelming majority of people had fled insecurity and conflict,
which included the destruction of homes and personal property. In the
Panjshir and Shomali Plain region of northeastern Afghanistan, refugees
had also left as a military blockade limited their access to relief aid.

The survey indicated that the majority of refugees, about 60 percent of
those interviewed, were of Tajik or Uzbek origin. Relief workers
considered that one reason for crossing into Pakistan was to distance
themselves from harassment by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, and
that any involuntary return would expose these minority groups to varying
degrees of persecution. 

In the context of deteriorating conditions inside Afghanistan, a voluntary
return of refugees seemed remote for reasons of individual insecurity,
according to humanitarian workers.

Yusuf Hassan, spokesperson for UNHCR in Pakistan, said that the issue of
repatriation had been the main priority last year but - with sharply
deteriorating conditions inside Afghanistan - the focus had to shift to
meeting the emergency needs of new arrivals.

"Our view is that repatriation must be voluntary and will take place when
the conditions are conducive to a return. At present, we're far more
concerned with dealing with the refugees that are coming into Pakistan,"
he told IRIN. 

Another issue is the financial cost of hosting refugees and any proposal
to return people to Afghanistan by UNHCR and donor partners could only
provide a partial solution, according to Fange.

"It might help to encourage some people to return, but it won't tip the
balance. Most people don't want to return yet. I don't think we can think
of a return to Afghanistan given the general situation there. Any movement
back would be going against the tide," he said. 

Meanwhile, the possibility of additional funds for an increase in
activities inside Afghanistan appears extremely unlikely. European Union
(EU) ambassador Kurt Juul told IRIN on Wednesday that the EU was not
looking to significantly increase assistance inside Afghanistan until
there was peace in the country.

"We can't just throw millions of euros into a country without any
guarantee of the money being well spent," he said. "Our view is that the
conditions are not there for a bigger effort - which we could call a
reconstruction effort- until there is peace."

[ENDS]

IRIN-Asia Phone:- +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 , Mobile +92-0300-8501-307, Fax
No:- +92-51-2211450 or 475 E-mail:-irinasia@irin.org.pk


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