ISLAMABAD: Officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan met on Wednesday to discuss the way forward in ensuring the “dignified, gradual and voluntary” repatriation of refugees, with both sides agreeing to adhere to the stipulated timeline for the process.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are nearly 1.4 million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, a figure which Islamabad narrows down to an additional half-million unregistered migrants.
“The joint agreement is to have a dignified, gradual and voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees in the next round of the meeting,” Zardasht Shams, Afghanistan’s deputy head of mission in Islamabad, told Arab News.
He added that representatives also deliberated upon how to work together for a timely and complete return of Afghan nationals. “It is a process…And these are the preliminary meetings and the rules of procedure were agreed upon,” Shams added.
Official data shows that Pakistan has 63 camps for registered Afghan refugees — a third live in camps, while an estimated 68 percent reside in other areas.
Mohamed Aslam from Pakistan’s Ministry of States and Frontier Region said that the next meeting for the initiative would take place in Kabul.
Islamabad, Kabul hold talks for repatriating refugees
Islamabad, Kabul hold talks for repatriating refugees
- Promise to work toward “dignified” return of nearly 1.4 million Afghans
- Official data shows that Pakistan has 63 camps for registered migrants
Pakistan deputy PM to attend OIC meeting tomorrow on Israel’s West Bank measures
- OIC ministerial meeting on Feb. 26 in Jeddah to discuss Israel’s recent measures at expanding control over West Bank
- Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to visit Saudi Arabia from Feb. 26-28, meet counterparts from OIC member states
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will attend an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Thursday to discuss Israel’s recent measures to expand control over the West Bank, the foreign office said.
Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister, will participate in the Extraordinary Ministerial Session of the OIC’s Executive Committee on Thursday. The OIC has said the meeting in Jeddah will discuss “illegal” Israeli decisions aimed at the West Bank’s annexation.
Israel’s decision this month to approve land registration procedures in parts of the West Bank for the first time since 1967 have drawn sharp criticism from Muslim nations, who see it as a move to ease the path for settlement expansion and potential annexation.
“In the Ministerial Session, the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on the latest illegal measures by Israel to convert areas of the Occupied West Bank into so-called ‘state land,’” the foreign office said.
Dar will visit the Kingdom from Feb. 26-28, during which he will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from OIC member states, the foreign office added.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, alongside around three million Palestinians.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes.
Pakistan and 21 other Muslim nations on Wednesday condemned Israel’s measures to expand control over the West Bank, warning the steps risk advancing “unacceptable de facto annexation” and undermining prospects for a two-state solution.
