Pakistan has indicated its willingness to extend the stay of 1.45 million Afghan refugees by one year.
The government announced Wednesday that it will extend the registration cards of almost 1.5 million Afghan refugees after a senior UN official urged the country to halt its deportation plan.
“The federal cabinet approved a one-year extension of the validity of the POR (Proof of Registration) cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The office stated that the affected refugees’ PoR cards expired more than a week ago, on June 30, but that an extension has now been granted until June 30, 2025.
Afghans value their time in Pakistan and are disappointed when their host country forces them to leave.
A handful of individuals asked to leave are obstinate, stating they will not return to Afghanistan.
The new lease on life for Afghans in Pakistan stems from a conversation about the status of refugees between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Filippo Grandi, the chief of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who visited Pakistan a few days ago.
Pakistan has been a key destination for Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
After a while, there was a calm, but when the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Afghans fled to neighboring Pakistan.
Concerned about the high number of refugees, Pakistan initiated a repatriation programme last year to return millions of Afghans.
According to government sources, Pakistan currently accommodates approximately three million Afghans, with almost 1.5 million holding a UNHCR Proof of Residence card and another 800,000 holding an Afghan Citizenship Card.
