In 2000, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) revised its estimate of the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan to 2 million, of whom 1.2 million live in refugee villages. Previously, UNHCR said that the Afghan refugee population was 1.2 million, and it estimated that another 1 to 2 million Afghans were in Pakistan.

Besides the large Afghan refugee population, Pakistan hosted 19,000 refugees from other countries, including 17,000 from areas of Kashmir that are part of India, 763 from Iran, 625 from Somalia, and 562 from Iraq.

According to UNHCR, more than 172,000 Afghan refugees entered Pakistan during 2000. Some 76,000 Afghans repatriated from Pakistan, and 4,867 refugees of various nationalities, including 3,159 Afghans, resettled to third countries during the year.

Afghans: Background

Afghan refugees first fled to Pakistan in 1978 after a communist government seized control of Afghanistan. The influx mushroomed after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, growing to more than 4 million in the 1980s. The Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, but significant numbers of refugees did not return home until Afghan insurgents ousted the Soviet-installed Najibullah regime in 1992. Repatriation slowed beginning in 1993 because of infighting among the various insurgent factions.

In the mid-1990s, the radical Islamist Taliban faction gained momentum and seized control of southern Afghanistan and Kabul. Taliban offensives sent hundreds of thousands of new refugees into Pakistan and Iran during the late 1990s and displaced large numbers of people internally. By the end of the 1990s, the Taliban controlled 90 percent of Afghanistan.

Most Afghan refugees who have been in Pakistan since the 1980s or early 1990s are ethnic Pushtuns. A majority live in villages that appear much like other rural villages in Pakistan. They move freely in Pakistan and work wherever they can find jobs. During the 1990s, many donor countries reduced their funding of programs for Afghan refugees, and many of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working with the refugees shifted the emphasis of their programs from care and maintenance to facilitating repatriation and helping returnees. In 1995, UNHCR and the World Food Program ended food aid to most refugee village residents, some of whom subsequently migrated to the cities.

Many of the Afghan refugees who have entered Pakistan since 1996, when the mostly Pushtun Taliban captured Kabul, have been members of ethnic minorities or opponents of the Taliban, including many of Afghanistan's professionals. Often, they do not integrate well with other Afghan refugees or with local Pushtuns. Those who express opposition to the Taliban may experience security problems in Pakistan. Some have been threatened or killed. The Taliban has also restricted the education of Afghan refugee girls in Pakistan by warning teachers in refugee schools in Pakistan to limit lessons for girls to verses from the Koran and not to educate girls older than age eight.

Over the years, it has been impossible to determine the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Not all Afghans registered as refugees. Many came and went informally; births and deaths went untracked. During the late 1990s, for planning purposes, UNHCR estimated the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan to be 1.2 million. It noted, however, that as many as 2 million other Afghans were in Pakistan, especially in Peshawar and North West Frontier Province (NWFP), without documentation. In 2000, UNHCR revised its estimate of the Afghan refugee population. It now estimates that there are 2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, of whom some 1.2 million live in the refugee villages.

Afghans: Events in 2000

In June, unidentified gunmen in Pakistan shot and injured Mohammad Enam Wak, an exiled Afghan writer who had argued that few Afghans support the Taliban. Weeks later, Pakistan deported a former Kabul University professor who had run afoul of pro-Taliban Afghans. A member of the Pakistani Human Rights Commission said that Taliban opponents who speak out are "in serious danger" because "Muslim fundamentalists will hunt and kill them."

In December, Pakistani police forcibly broke up a demonstration by Afghan refugee women protesting the Taliban's restrictive policies toward women.

The Pakistan government and UNHCR hoped that more than 100,000 Afghans would repatriate in 2000. By year's end, however, only 76,000 had done so. Although continued conflict deterred some refugees from repatriating, a major drought in Afghanistan was likely the most significant factor.

Another Afghan refugee influx began in June 2000 and accelerated rapidly in October. It followed heavy fighting in northern Afghanistan. UNHCR estimated that more than 172,000 Afghans had entered Pakistan. A large majority, some 154,000, entered through NWFP, while about 18,000 entered through Baluchistan, south of NWFP. UNHCR noted that the number of new arrivals could have been higher, however, as many new arrivals went to stay with relatives or moved to cities throughout Pakistan without registering their presence or seeking assistance. Most new arrivals were members of ethnic minorities, mainly Tajiks from Takhar and Parwan provinces, and Uzbeks and Turkomans from northern Afghanistan. Some of the new arrivals were also Pushtuns from areas north of Kabul.

Many of the new refugees had been displaced in Afghanistan for months before proceeding to Pakistan. A large majority sold everything they had in order to survive and to pay for the journey to Pakistan. Once in Pakistan, most made their way to Jalozai, site of a former refugee camp that had been home to ethnic minority refugees. Jalozai became an impromptu transit center for new arrivals, but problems quickly arose because little assistance was available there.

UNHCR transferred the 36,000 refugees at Jalozai to Shamshatoo camp between November and December. At Shamshatoo, it was able to provide them shelter, food, medical assistance, and other basic services. Lack of water remained a problem, however. UNHCR had estimated that Shamshatoo had enough water for 5,000 families, but by year's end, more than 6,000 families were living there.

The agency tried to identify other sites for new refugees, but Pakistan would not approve new sites. Complicating matters, within days of UNHCR completing the transfer of refugees from Jalozai to Shamshatoo, thousands other refugees gathered at Jalozai and asked to be transferred to Shamshatoo.

At year's end, 40,000 new refugees were living in Shamshatoo camp, south of Peshawar. Thousands of others were in Baluchistan, Sind, and Punjab provinces, as well as in Jalozai camp and in the city of Peshawar in NWFP.

Pakistan's Attitude Hardens

Pakistan officially closed its border to new Afghan refugees on November 9. It said that it would permit entry only to Afghans with valid passports and visas (documents that refugees fleeing the Taliban would be unlikely to have). Pakistan's interior minister said that the government had taken this action because Pakistan did not "have the resources to absorb another wave of refugees."

Pakistan did not, however, strictly enforce the border closure. Some refugees claimed that border guards permitted Pushtun speakers to enter but not members of ethnic minorities. Several days after the closure, local guards, worried about the large number of Afghans massing on the other side, briefly re-opened the border. Hundreds of Afghans stampeded across the border, crushing an elderly man and a child.

Despite the border closure, an estimated 70 Afghan refugee families per day continued to enter through the end of the year. They entered through isolated locations or by bribing guards at the main border crossing on the Jalalabad-Peshawar road.

Although Pakistan's actions were not as grave as they could have been, they clearly represented a significant shift in its long-standing policy of welcoming, albeit reluctantly, Afghan refugees. Although refugees continued to slip in, at year's end the border remained officially closed to them. The Pakistan government was labeling all new arrivals "illegal immigrants." It continued to refuse UNHCR permission to create new camps to accommodate arriving refugees, and it insisted that Afghanistan is now peaceful and that Afghan refugees must return home.

Kashmiris

Pakistan continued to host some 17,000 refugees from the region of Kashmir that is part of India. Some have been in Pakistan since 1947. They live in 17 camps in the region of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir known as Azad and Jammu Kashmir, where the local authorities assist them.

In addition to the refugees, there are some 2,000 internally displaced Kashmiris in Pakistan. Most were displaced in the late 1990s from areas under Pakistan control. A majority of the displaced, some 1,500, live in one of two camps for displaced people in Azad and Jammu Kashmir. The remainder live in a makeshift camp in the Northern Territories. An unknown number of other Kashmiris are also internally displaced, but because they live with relatives and friends, they are not readily identifiable. The Pakistani authorities do not provide the displaced the same level of assistance that they provide the refugees from India because they want the displaced to return to their villages along the frontier to reinforce Pakistan's claim to that area. The International Committee of the Red Cross assists the displaced.

The conflict in Kashmir is between the Indian armed forces and Kashmiri Muslim insurgents – allegedly supported by Pakistan – who seek either union with Pakistan or an independent Kashmir. On occasion, the conflict pits India and Pakistan, now both nuclear powers, directly against one another. A major flare-up in 1999 displaced tens of thousands of Kashmiris both in Pakistan and in India. Most returned home in late 1999.

Some 300 new Kashmiri refugees entered Pakistan in late June 2000. Agence France Presse reported that the refugees claimed that Indian troops accused them of aiding Muslim separatists, beat them, and told them to leave India or face further consequences.

Other Refugees

According to UNHCR, Pakistan hosted some 2,100 refugees from various other countries, including 763 Iranians, 625 Somalis, 562 Iraqis (mostly Kurds), and smaller numbers of Algerians, Palestinians, and others. The above included 387 persons whom UNHCR newly recognized as refugees during the year.

Pakistan regards non-Afghan refugees, including those recognized by UNHCR, as illegal aliens. It permits UNHCR-recognized refugees to remain pending repatriation or resettlement to countries outside the region but does not permit them to work or to receive free health care or education. UNHCR provides the refugees financial assistance, medical care, and scholarships, and seeks durable solutions for them. During 2000, some 1,700 Somalis, Iranians, and Iraqis resettled in third countries.

In 2000, many of the non-Afghan refugees protested their lack of resettlement opportunities. In November, two Iraqis attacked a UN employee in Quetta, and reportedly planted petrol bombs (that did not explode) in the UNHCR office there. In December, Iraqi Kurd demonstrators stormed the UNHCR office in Islamabad and briefly held several UNHCR staff hostage. Some were protesting UNHCR's rejection of their refugee status claims; others demanded resettlement. Police used tear gas to remove the demonstrators from the UN office and later arrested 40 to 50 of them.

During 2000, UNHCR reported that 8,260 Pakistanis sought asylum in Europe, primarily in Britain and Germany. Most fled increasing repression in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch, the Pakistan authorities have been "suppressing opposition-led demonstrations and strikes, curtailing civil liberties through repressive ordinances, and persecuting independent NGOs and journalists." The number of Pakistanis seeking visas to enter the United States reportedly tripled in 2000.

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