QUETTA, 21 February (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency  has started its consultative Shura meetings in Balochistan with Afghans on the resumption of the UNHCR-assisted voluntary repatriation of registered Afghans starting from the first week of March this year.

Every year in Pakistan, UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation program resumes in March after a winter break with an intense Mass Information campaign aimed at informing Afghans well in advance to make an informed and voluntary decision about their return. 

“Shura meetings are not for promoting repatriation as it is voluntary, but these meetings are more for information sharing to ensure that the refugees’ intention to repatriate is genuine, voluntary, and well informed,” says Khalid Mahgoub, Field Protection Officer at UNHCR’s Sub-Office Quetta.

These consultative meetings, known as ‘Shuras’, are a useful interactive communication tool within communities where the literacy rate is low and where any other communication channel like TV is deemed as a luxury.  

 UNHCR teams conduct these meetings in refugee villages and urban settlements prior to the resumption of the repatriation program to disseminate information on repatriation modalities and assistance package. Shura meetings are usually conducted at the houses of community elders, mosques or schools, where maximum numbers of attendees are guaranteed.

 Under the UNHCR assisted voluntary repatriation program that started in March 2002, over 3.2 million Afghans have repatriated from Pakistan with UNHCR’s assistance. Out of this number, 523,229 repatriated from Balochistan province, host to the second largest refugee population in Pakistan after North Western Frontier Province. Some 2 million registered Afghans remain in Pakistan today. 

“We don’t want anyone to tell us when to return, Afghanistan is our homeland, and we will certainly return to our country one day, but only if the situation there is conducive for our return,” argues an Afghan elder, Haji Ahmad Shah, in Quetta during one of the Shura meetings.

 According to the registration report of Afghans in Pakistan, a vast majority – around 84 percent – of Afghans have concerns about returning home due to security, lack of livelihood and shelter facilities. The percentage is higher in Balochistan, where approximately 90 percent of Afghans have no immediate intention to return, stating security as their major concern. 

 “During our Shura meetings we get direct feedback from refugees about our work. We get a chance to have a closer look in their lives and to see the challenges that they are experiencing during their temporary stay in Pakistan or while making a voluntary decision to return home,” says Aymal Kakar from UNHCR’s repatriation unit in Quetta.   

 Registered Afghans returning to Afghanistan with UNHCR assistance will get an average of US$100 per individual as a transport and reintegration grant to help them settle in Afghanistan.

By Duniya Aslam Khan

In Quetta, Pakistan