ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt Gen. (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch said on Tuesday that Afghan refugees are one of the main problems being faced by Pakistan.
Addressing a conference “International Conference on Refugee Crises: Lessons from Pakistan and beyond” organised by the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), the minister said, Pakistan as a neighbour had made great contribution in meeting the needs of Afghan refugees. “International community was spending much more on Syrian refugees than the Afghan refugees,” he added. He said the international community had now realised that 30 per cent of Afghan refugees were now heading towards Europe.
Representative of Hanss Seidel Foundation Kristof Duwaerts said that Afghanistan has recently formed a high-level Displacement and Return Executive Committee (DiREC) to prioritise assistance needs and reintegration prospects of internally displaced people and returnees under the Afghanistan’s National Peace and Development Framework. He said Pakistan also adopted a national policy relating to the management of Afghan refugees and Afghan nationals living in the country. “This provides a comprehensive, predictable and sustainable response to managing refugee and migration issues in Pakistan,” he said.
He also said that Afghanistan situation had invited major powers to jointly make efforts for establishment of lasting peace in the war-hit country. However, he said, the role of Pakistan is distinct in terms of geographic and cultural links with Afghanistan.
In his welcome remarks, Rector NUST Lt. Gen. Naweed Zaman said in the backdrop of recent refugee crisis in Europe, there is an increasing realisation to commensurate the global menace with deserving attention.
Though different parts of the world have experienced and shared the pain of losing their population into refugee camps and welcoming refugees in millions, yet the current refugee crisis is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, he added.