ISLAMABAD, Oct 19, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) - Pakistani Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Yar Mohammad Rind on Thursday said that all Afghan refugees would be repatriated from the country within three years, the website of local newspaper The News reported.
He said that those Afghans refugees having no registration card with them would be dealt with under foreign act law.
The process of Afghan refugees registration had already been started from Oct. 15 and as many as 11,000 Afghans have been registered so far.
The registration of Afghan refugees in the country would be completed by Dec. 31, 2006, state-run APP Thursday quoted Secretary of Ministry of States and Frontier Regions Sajid Hussain Chatta as saying.
Rind said that only those Afghans having registration cards would be facilitated with full rights and will be allowed to live in Pakistan.
There will be no second chance for registration once the registration process is finished, he added.
Registered Afghans will receive a three-year valid Proof of Registration (PoR) card that recognizes them as Afghan citizens living in Pakistan and will be invalidated when they repatriate, according to APP's earlier report.
During the registration period, Afghans in Pakistan are supposed to bring official documents establishing their identity like passports, driver's license, student cards, ration cards, birth/marriage certificates and other supporting documents such as utility bills, school/hospital records, said the APP report.
According to the previous census by Pakistani government, there were 3.048 million Afghans in Pakistan, and presently, there are an estimated 2.468 million.