Pakistan extends Afghan refugee stay for six months

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday announced a six month extension in the legal stay of Afghan refugees in the country, the PM office said. Pakistan had issued Proof of Registration (PoR) Cards to Afghan refugees which was to be expired on Dec. 31, 2012. There are still 1.6 million registered Afghans in Pakistan, the UN refugee agency said. Pakistani officials said that some 1 million unregistered Afghan refugees also live in the country. "Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharf has extended by six months the Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR tripartite agreement on repatriation of Afghan Refugees which was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2012," a statement from the PM office said. This decision was made at a high level meeting held in the Prime Minister's Secretariat on a presentation made on Management and Repatriation Strategy/Policy for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. The prime minister also decided to constitute a committee held by Minister for States and Frontier Regions Engr. Shaukatullah to monitor the repatriation of Afghan refugees, the statements said. The meeting was informed that only 0.2 million Afghan refugees could be repatriated by the end of 2012 and there were still 1.6 million registered and 1 million unregistered Afghans residing in Pakistan. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Interior Rehman A. Malik, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamir Zaman Kaira, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan and other senior officials.