Afghans in Pakistan get govt breather

Pakistan extended the stay of about three million Afghan refugees by one year on Friday. The Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, allowed the refugees to stay in the country till March 2017, officials said.

Earlier, the government had set a deadline of December 31 this year for return of the refugees.

Of the three million refugees, about half are illegally staying in Pakistan.

“Afghans are our brothers and very dear to us. Adequate and concrete steps will be ensured for facilitation of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan,” according to an official statement of the Cabinet meeting.

Both Kabul and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had been pushing Pakistan to extend the deadline of sending the refugees back as war-torn Afghanistan is not still ready to absorb them.

Millions of Afghan refugees entered Pakistan after the Soviet-Afghanistan War, which lasted around nine years.

Afghan families belonging to different generations still reside in Pakistan burdening the economy.

According to the latest report of UNHCR, more than 100,000 refugees had returned to Afghanistan in July and August.