PESHAWAR - The KP government, dispelling the impression of irritating Afghan refugees, has asked unregistered refugees to get them registered by November 15, the deadline set by the federal government.
Briefing media persons here yesterday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said the provincial government would implement in letter and spirit the policy which the federal government adopts regarding the Afghan refugees.
The chief minister and parliamentary leaders in the KP attended a meeting convened by Speaker Asad Qaisar to discuss issues of refugees who are complaining about maltreatment and harassment at the hands of law-enforcement agencies.
The federal government should evolve a strategy to facilitate cross-border movement because a large number of people from Afghanistan come on daily basis to Peshawar for treatment and education, the CM said.
He maintained that the coming November 15 is a deadline set by the federal government for unregistered Afghans, asking unregistered refugees to get themselves registered. Similarly, registered refugees could stay till December 2016. He, however, said that they have decided in the meeting that police will not register FIRs against unregistered Afghans, if arrested in any operation during this period.
He made it clear that the KP government would follow the guidelines set by the federal government about Afghan nationals in future. The KP government never tried to force the Afghan refugees to leave the province and move back to their own country, he said.
To prepare recommendations regarding Afghan refugees, a special committee, headed by former bureaucrat Rustam Shah Mohmand, has been constituted. Its recommendations would be passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and then sent to the federal government for proper implementation, the CM said.
He averred dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees to their country is the priority of the government. Return of Afghan refugees is a sensitive matter, he said, asserting recommendations by the committee to address the issues would be implemented sincerely.
The CM said new border management policy and raise in cash assistance are the main reasons for increase in the repatriation of Afghan refugees. When asked about properties of the departing refugees, Khattak said the quarters concerned are receiving complaints regarding disputes over their immovable properties, adding the government would make a plan on how to streamline this issue.
