The Minister of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR), Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi on Friday said Pakistan agreed not to link the refugees issue to political differences between the two countries.
 
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met on Wednesday evening and agreed that those Afghan refugees who have a registration cards, could remain in Pakistan till the end of this year.
 
“UNHCR told the meeting it did not have enough money to pay the returnees. If many of refugees returned early, they would not receive the same amount given to those refugees who arrived back the last year,” Alemi said.
 
Because the political tensions have increased between Kabul and Islamabad, concerns have been raised that Pakistan may mistreat Afghan refugees.
 
“Pakistan officials have agreed not to treat Afghan refugees politically and we hope they keep their promise,” Alemi said.
 
Currently more than one million registered and over 700,000 unregistered Afghan refugees live in Pakistan.
 
“According to the trilateral agreement, it  was agreed that both countries will start the registration process for those refugees who have not been yet registered,” Jawid Faisal, CEO Deputy Spokesman said.
 
UNHCR earlier had announced that the process of returning Afghan refugees from Pakistan will start from the 1st of March.