FOR weeks the voluntary repatriation centre run by the United Nations on the outskirts of Peshawar has been besieged by trucks laden with Afghan refugees and their worldly possessions. Inside the compound hundreds of men, children and burqa-clad women wait bad-temperedly in the sun to complete the achingly slow formalities of leaving Pakistan, a country that has hosted legions of displaced Afghans since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, but now wants to be rid of them.
The process, which involves scanning the soon-to-be-ex-refugees’ irises and issuing them with temporary travel documents, concludes with the cutting up of their “Proof of Registration” cards. Pakistan says these documents, once among refugees’ most important possessions, will cease to be valid on December 31st, leaving any of the 1.5m-odd documented refugees who remain in the country then in legal limbo. As for the 1m-odd undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, the government says that from November 15th on, they will need visas to remain—something hardly any of them currently have.
Although such deadlines have been extended or ignored in the past, there are...Continue reading
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