Pakistan says registered Afghan refugees can stay for one more year

Pakistan says it will extend the validity of Proof of Registration cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees for one year.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has announced it will extend the registration cards of nearly 1.5 million Afghan refugees after a senior UN official urged the country to halt its deportation plan.

“The federal cabinet approved one-year extension of the validity of POR (Proof of Registration) cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees. Their PoR cards have been expired on June 30, 2024. The extension has been granted until June 30, 2025,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement after the conclusion of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The announcement followed the discussion on the status of the refugees between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Filippo Grandi, chief of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), who visited Pakistan earlier this week.

Sharif told Grandi that the international community must recognise the “burden being shouldered” by Pakistan as it hosts a large refugee population, and demonstrate “collective responsibility”, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office on Tuesday.

Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The latest influx started in August 2021 when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, prompting some 600,000 to 800,000 Afghans to seek refuge in neighbouring Pakistan.

Last November, Pakistan launched a widely criticised repatriation programme aimed at returning millions of Afghans, regardless of their legal status.

According to the government, Pakistan currently hosts nearly three million Afghans, with close to 2.4 million possessing some form of legal documentation. Of these, almost