Over two million Afghan refugees living in Punjab: sources

LAHORE (92 News) - As many as over two million Afghan refugees are living in Punjab province and over 750,000 are unregistered.

According to sources, the Afghan refugees are doing business in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Multan. The Punjab government will ensure the steps for the repatriation of the Afghan refugees to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government has also taken an initiative for the repatriation of illegal migrants by establishing implementation committees at the provincial, divisional and district levels. The committees include representatives of the police, army, intelligence agencies and the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees. The committees will collect data of unregistered migrants. They will also be responsible for expelling the illegal migrants and stopping their arrival.

In Balochistan, 331,000 registered Afghan refugees are living in 10 camps. However, no data is available about the unregistered refugees. In tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22,039 Afghan refugees are living, while 285,600 Afghan refugees are living in other districts.