Afghan refugees reluctant to register program: UNHCR
By Saad Ahmed

ISLAMABAD—A programme to register Afghans living in Pakistan has been proceeding slowly due partly to confusion over the objectives of the exercise, United Nations officials acknowledged.
The 10-week campaign, costing some US $6 million, is aimed at providing millions of Afghan exiles in Pakistan with identity cards valid for three years. The cards recognise the bearer as an Afghan citizen temporarily living in Pakistan, Integrated Regional Information Networks reported sunday. "The main obstacle to registration seems to be [Afghan] people's fear that the exercise is the [Pakistan] government's way of rounding them up and sending them home," Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
"On our part, we are trying to convince them [Afghans in Pakistan] that this is really a protection tool for Afghan nationals that will help them to stay for three years while keeping an eye on the situation in Afghanistan," she added. Nearly 91,000 Afghan refugees have registered so far across Pakistan since the operation started on 15 October, including about 37,000 in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), 20,000 in Balochistan, 17,000 in Punjab, 14,000 in Sindh province and some 2,000 in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The registration drive is a follow-up to a comprehensive Afghan census conducted in Pakistan in February and March 2005, which found more than three million Afghans were still living in the country.
More than 580,000 Afghans have returned home with UNHCR assistance since the census, leaving an estimated 2.4 million Afghans still living in Pakistan today, according to UNHCR. "What are the benefits of this registration for us [Afghans]? Besides giving us legal status, how is it going to help in our daily lives like in getting admission to Pakistani educational institutions, open bank accounts or get services," Latifa Aziz, an Afghan woman who runs a private school in the capital, said.
The UNHCR has been trying to clarify the purpose of the registration. "In itself, the Proof of Registration (PoR) card is not a work permit or travel document. It is for identity purposes only, recognising the bearer as an Afghan citizen temporarily living in Pakistan. It's a protection tool against harassment, but will not confer any additional rights or status," Tan noted. The Pakistani government was contacted to comment on the registration drive but had not responded, the UN Information Networks reported. Many Afghans working as labourers or running small businesses fear they will be expelled from the country once registered with the Pakistani authorities. "Police will deport us. If we go through this registration process they will have our pictures as well," said Muhammad Saeed Wali, an Afghan carpenter in Islamabad.
Pakistani officials, in a tripartite meeting in Doha held in May, proposed a rolling three-year plan to close all Afghan refugee camps in the country. Even those who do not think they will be immediately sent back to Afghanistan are concerned about the future.