European Asylum Support Office

PakistanSituation of Afghan
refugees

Country of Origin Information Report

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

European Asylum Support Office

PakistanSituation of Afghan
refugees

Country of Origin Information Report

May 2020

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).

ISBN 978-92-9485-203-8

doi: 10.2847/38898

BZ0120-292-EN-N© European Asylum Support Office (EASO) 2020
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated.
For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the
copyrights statements of the respective third parties.

Cover photo: © European Union/ECHO/Pierre Prakash, 1 February 2016, Afghan refugees:
The path home (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 3

Acknowledgements
EASO would like to acknowledge the Belgian Centre for Documentation and Research (Cedoca) in the
Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, as the drafter of this report.

The following national asylum and migration departments reviewed this report:
France, Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless persons (OFPRA), Information,
Documentation and Research Division (DIDR)
Germany, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Country Analysis

The following external organisations reviewed this report:
ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations
contributes to the overall quality of the report, but it does not necessarily imply their formal
endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO.

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Contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 3Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Disclaimer................................................................................................................................................ 6
Glossary and abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 10
Sources ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Quality control .................................................................................................................................. 11
Structure and use of the report ........................................................................................................ 11
Map ....................................................................................................................................................... 12
1. Background ....................................................................................................................................... 13
1.1 History of Afghan migration to Pakistan .................................................................................... 13
1.1.1 The Durand Line .................................................................................................................. 13
1.1.2 Overview of Afghan displacement to Pakistan ................................................................... 14
1.2 Legal status, population and demography ................................................................................. 15
1.2.1 Legal status .......................................................................................................................... 15
1.2.2 Figures and place of residence ............................................................................................ 17
1.2.3 Demography ........................................................................................................................ 20
1.3 Laws and policies in Pakistan towards Afghan refugees ............................................................ 22
1.3.1 Laws and policies ................................................................................................................. 22
1.3.2 Citizenship ........................................................................................................................... 23
1.3.3 Treatment by the state of Pakistan ..................................................................................... 25
1.3.4 General attitude of the Pakistan population towards Afghan refugees ............................. 31
2. Documentation of registered and unregistered Afghan refugees.................................................... 32
2.1 Registered Afghan refugees ....................................................................................................... 32
2.1.1 PoR cardholders .................................................................................................................. 32
2.2 Unregistered Afghan refugees.................................................................................................... 36
2.2.1 Unregistered Afghan refugees ............................................................................................ 36
2.2.2 ACC holders ......................................................................................................................... 36
2.3 Return ......................................................................................................................................... 38
2.3.1 General ................................................................................................................................ 38
2.3.2 Return of registered Afghan refugees ................................................................................. 39

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2.3.3 Return of unregistered Afghan refugees............................................................................. 42
3. Livelihood .......................................................................................................................................... 43
3.1 Education .................................................................................................................................... 43
3.2 Employment ............................................................................................................................... 45
3.3 Access to services ....................................................................................................................... 46
3.3.1 Access to documents........................................................................................................... 46
3.3.2 Healthcare ........................................................................................................................... 47
3.3.3 Housing, land and property ................................................................................................. 48
3.3.4 Financial and communications services .............................................................................. 49
3.3.5 Access to legal aid ............................................................................................................... 50
3.4 Marriage ..................................................................................................................................... 50
3.5 Cross-border movement............................................................................................................. 51
Annex 1: Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 54
Annex 2: Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................ 70

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Disclaimer
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (June 2019).1 The report isbased on carefully selected sources of information. All sources used are referenced. To the extent
possible and unless otherwise stated, all information presented, except for undisputed or obvious
facts, has been cross-checked.
The information contained in this report has been researched, evaluated and analysed with utmost
care. However, this document does not claim to be exhaustive. If a particular event, person ororganisation is not mentioned in the report, this does not mean that the event has not taken place orthat the person or organisation does not exist.
Furthermore, this report is not conclusive as to the determination or merit of any particularapplication for international protection. Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of aparticular legal position.
‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as generic terminology and not in the legal sense as
applied in the EU Asylum Acquis, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the
Status of Refugees.
Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may bemade of the information contained in this report.
The target users are asylum caseworkers, COI researchers, policymakers, and decision-making
authorities.
The first draft of this report was finalised on 15 April 2020. Some additional information was added
during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control
process, until 6 May 2020. More information on the reference period for this report can be found in
the methodology section of the Introduction.

1 The EASO methodology is largely based on the Common EU Guidelines for processing Country of Origin Information (COI),

2008, and can be downloaded from the EASO website: url

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Glossary and abbreviations
AAN

Afghanistan Analysts Network

ACC

Afghan Citizen Card - between August 2017 and February 2018
the Government of Pakistan, in collaboration with the Governmentof Afghanistan and with the support of IOM and UNHCR, carried out
a country-wide exercise to identify undocumented Afghans.2

ADSP

Afghan Displacement Solutions Platform

AI

Amnesty International

ALAC

Advice and Legal Aid Centre. An ALAC is run by partners of UNHCR
and are operational in all four provinces of Pakistan.3

APAPPS

Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity

ARV

Afghan Refugee Village4

AVR

Assisted Voluntary Return

BHU

Basic Health Unit

CAR

Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees

CAMP

Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme

CCAR

Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees

CFR

Council on Foreign Relations

CNIC

Computerized National Identity Card

DAFI

Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative

DFAT

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Australian Government

EC

Encashment Centre

EVRRP

Enhanced Voluntary Return and Reintegration Package

HEC

Higher Education Commission

HRCP

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

IDMC

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

IHC

Islamabad High Court

ILO

International Labour Organization

IOM

International Organization for Migration

ISSI

Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad

Katchi abadi

Informal settlement

2 UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url; Dawn, Registration of

undocumented Afghans starts today, 16 August 2017, url
3 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1
4 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url; ADSP, On
the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 11

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Khpal Watan, Gul Watan‘My country, my beautiful country’ or ‘the grass is green in my land.’In July 2016, the Government of Afghanistan launched this campaign
to encourage Afghan nationals to repatriate back to Afghanistan.5

MORR

Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation

MoU

Memorandum of Understanding

Muharram

The first month of the Islamic calendar.6

NADRA

National Database and Registration Authority

NAP

National Action Plan, a plan established by the Government ofPakistan to eliminate terrorism.7

NGO

Nongovernmental organisation

NRC

Norwegian Refugee Council

PCM-centre

PoR Card Modification-centre

PCO

Pakistan's Population and Census Organization

PoR card

Proof of Registration card: an administrative document issued toregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.8

Rahdari

A rahdari is a card issued in 2015 to facilitate frequent cross-border
movement of Shinwari tribesmen.9

RAHA-initiative

Refugees Affected and Hosting Areas Development. The RAHA
programme was initiated in May 2009 by the Government of Pakistan
in partnership with UN-agencies.10

SBP

State Bank of Pakistan

SAFRON

Ministry of States and Frontier Regions

SHARP

Society for Human Rights and Prisoners’ Aid

Shanakhti passes

According to Human Rights Watch, also known as passbooks. The
Government of Pakistan issued these passbooks to Afghan refugees
in the early years of the 1980s.11

SSAR

Solution Strategy for Afghan Refugees. A regulatory framework forthe management of Afghan refugees in Pakistan developed in 2011.12

TazkeraAfghan identity document

TNN

Tribal News Network

ToR

Terms of ReferenceUN

United Nations

UNAMA

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

5 Dawn, Kabul launches campaign to bring refugees back, 17 July 2016, url
6 BBC News, What is Ashura?, 6 December 2011, url
7 Express Tribune (The), Fight against terrorism: Defining moment, 25 December 2014, url
8 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 3
9 Dawn, Customs agents, Afghan students to get new cards, 8 July 2017, url
10 RAHA Pakistan, Program document Moving forward 2014-2017, 2016, url, p. 9
11 HRW, Closed Door Policy: Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Iran, February 2002, url, p. 19
12 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Regional Overview (Update 2015 - 2016), 10 October 2015, url, p. 8

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 9

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

UNHCR

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNOCHA

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

US

United States

USDOS

US Department of StateVoA

Voice of America

VRC

Voluntary Repatriation Centre

VRF

Voluntary Repatriation Form

10 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Introduction
This report was drafted by a Country of Origin Information (COI) specialist from Cedoca, the Belgian
COI unit, as referred to in the Acknowledgements section.
The purpose of this report is to analyse the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, focusing mainlyon the situation of registered and unregistered Afghan refugees in the country, which is relevant forinternational protection status determination, including refugee status and subsidiary protection.

Methodology
This report is produced in line with the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019)13 and the EASO COI
Writing and Referencing Style Guide (2019).14
The information gathered is a result of research using public, specialised paper-based and electronicsources until 15 April 2020. Some additional information was added during the finalisation of thisreport in response to feedback received during the quality control process, until 6 May 2020.
For the Terms of Reference (ToR) of this report, EASO and the COI Specialist Network on Pakistan
provided input to Cedoca. Cedoca defined this ToR taking into account this input. The ToR for thisreport can be found in Annex 2 of this report.

Sources
The information in this report results from desk research of public specialised paper-based andelectronic sources, which were consulted within the time frame and the scope of the research. The
report relies to a large extent on reports and data from the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and on a study of the Afghan Displacement Solutions Platform (ADSP): On themargins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018.15
The report also draws on interviews conducted by the COI specialist from Cedoca with internationalorganisations and local actors during its fact-finding mission in February 2020 in Islamabad andPeshawar. The Cedoca researcher, a specialist on Pakistan, conducted interviews with the following
experts:••••

Habib, N., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium,
Peshawar, 20 February 2020. Noor Habib is an Afghan refugee based in Peshawar since 1979.
Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium,
Peshawar, 20 February 2020. Khalid Khan Kheshgi is a staff reporter at the daily newspaper,
The News International and reporter for Mashaal Radio.
Khan, T.M., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium,
Islamabad, 14 February 2020. Muhammad Tahir Khan is a senior Pakistani journalist,
specialised in the theme of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium,
Islamabad, 16 February 2020 and email on 3 April 2020. Liaqat Banori is the executive directorof the Society for Human Rights & Prisoners Aid (SHARP) in Islamabad.

13 EASO, EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Report Methodology, June 2019, url
14 EASO, Writing and Referencing Guide for EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Reports, June 2019, url
15 UNHCR, Operational Portal Refugee Situation- Statistics Afghan refugees in Pakistan, last updated: 18 March 2020, url;

ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 11

The sources that are used in this report are further described in the Bibliography section.

Quality control
In order to ensure that the drafter respected the EASO COI Report Methodology, a review was carriedout by COI specialists from the countries and organisations listed as reviewers in the
Acknowledgements section. This quality process led to the inclusion of some additional information,
in response to feedback received during the respective reviews, until 6 May 2020. All comments madeby the reviewers were taken into consideration and most of them were implemented in the final draftof this report.

Structure and use of the report
This report describes the situation of Afghan refugees16 in Pakistan. The legal status of Afghans living
in Pakistan determines their ability to access education, health services, property and housing andlegal aid. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan can be broadly divided into four main groups: Proof ofRegistration (PoR) cardholders17, Afghan Citizens Card (ACC) holders, unregistered18 Afghan refugees
and Afghan passport holders with Pakistani visa. Sometimes the sources do not differentiate between
the four categories. Where possible the situation for each main group is described. The main focus of
this report lies on the Afghan refugees and not the Afghan passport holders with Pakistani visa.
The report consists of three main chapters. The first chapter describes the general background of
Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In the first section, the history of Afghan migration from Afghanistan toPakistan is discussed. The second section of the first chapter provides information on the legal status,
the population and the demography of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A third section describes theattitude of the Government of Pakistan towards Afghan refugees. A subsection is dedicated to theapproach of the police towards Afghan refugees and a final subsection describes the freedom of
movement of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A final section of the first chapter describes the general
attitude of Pakistan’s population towards Afghan refugees.
The second chapter of the report examines the legal status of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan anddescribes the documentation process of registered and unregistered Afghan refugees. A separate
section in this second chapter is dedicated to return to Afghanistan and the repatriation programmes.
No information is provided about the return conditions for Afghan refugees to and in Afghanistan
since this is not the scope of this report.
The third chapter provides information about the livelihood opportunities for Afghan refugees inPakistan according to their legal status. It examines the access to education, employment and accessto different services such as documents, healthcare, housing, land and property, financial andcommunication services and access to legal aid. Also, the possibility of marriage between Afghan
refugees and Pakistan nationals and cross-border movement of Afghan refugees is described in thischapter.

16 The term refugee is technically not used in Pakistan. Pakistan is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention

Relating to the Status of Refugees (also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention) of 28 July 1951
and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967. UN, Treaty Series, 22 April 1954, vol. 189,
url, p. 137
17 PoR-card holders are considered as registered Afghan refugees; Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced
Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url, p. 16
18 In the sources sometimes referred to as ‘undocumented Afghan refugees’. This report will use the term unregistered
Afghan refugees. In 2017, Pakistan started to register a part of the unregistered refugees and gave them Afghan Citizens
Cards. UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url12 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Map

Map 1: Pakistan-Overview© UNOCHA19

19 UNOCHA, Pakistan-Overview map [map], 3 December 2018, url

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1. Background
1.1 History of Afghan migration to Pakistan
1.1.1 The Durand LineThe relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is influenced by disagreement over the border
between the two countries.20 The Durand Line was established in 1893 during negotiations between
Sir Mortimer Durand, a British negotiator of the British Raj, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the Afghan Amir,in an attempt by the British to strengthen their control over the northern parts of India.21 The DurandLine, the de facto border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, caused unrest between both nations.22
Since 1947, none of the Afghan governments have recognised the legitimacy of the Durand Line as ‘anofficial international border’.23 On the other hand, the Government of Pakistan considers the DurandLine as the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.24 The implementation of the
Durand Line ‘divided hundreds of thousands of people from their relatives and tribes on both sides ofthe border’.25 According to Deutsche Welle, the ethnic Pashtuns, ‘who live on both sides of the borderand share historical, cultural and family ties’, also do not recognise the Durand Line.26
Historically, there has always been movement of persons and groups across the border between thetwo countries.27 According to a study by the Asia Foundation published in May 2019, the border
between Pakistan and Afghanistan is ‘notably porous and frequently traversed’.28 The Kabul-based
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), in January 2020, stated that although the Durand Line divided
two ethnic groups (the Pashtuns in the north and the Baloch in the south), both maintained theircross-border links and their right of freedom of movement. AAN stated that Afghan nationals travel‘in large numbers’ to Pakistan.29 According to the study by the Asia Foundation, there are manyreasons why people from both countries cross the border for example for cross-border trade,marriage and other reasons.30 In addition, Afghan nationals cross the border for work or business, ona daily basis or for a longer period. Others cross to visit their relatives, as millions of Afghan refugees
still live in Pakistan or travel to Pakistan for education or medical treatment.31
Sanaa Alimia, a political scientist specialised in migration in South Asia, stated that the movement ofpeople across the border between 1947 and the 1970s was limited ‘to a few thousand nomads, tradersand families with historic connections across both sides of the border’. Larger movements of people

20 Middle East Institution, The Durand Line: A British Legacy Plaguing Afghan-Pakistani Relations, 27 June 2017, url
21 Diplomat (The), Why the Durand Line Matters, 21 February 2014, url
22 Akbari, H., Durand Line Border Dispute Remains Point of Contention for Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations, Global Security

Review, 24 March 2019, last updated: 7 June 2019, url
23 Middle East Institution, The Durand Line: A British Legacy Plaguing Afghan-Pakistani Relations, 27 June 2017, url;
Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
24 Akbari, H., Durand Line Border Dispute Remains Point of Contention for Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations, Global Security
Review, 24 March 2019, last updated: 7 June 2019, url
25 Akbari, H., Durand Line Border Dispute Remains Point of Contention for Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations, Global Security
Review, 24 March 2019, last updated: 7 June 2019, url
26 Deutsche Welle, Why the border can't separate Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns, 3 June 2016, url
27 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
28 Asia Foundation (The), Asia Foundation Border Study Analytical Report - Quantitative and Qualitative Research Study on
Borderland Settlements in Afghanistan, 16 May 2019, url, p. 5
29 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
30 Asia Foundation (The), Asia Foundation Border Study Analytical Report - Quantitative and Qualitative Research Study on
Borderland Settlements in Afghanistan, 16 May 2019, url, p. 6
31 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url

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leaving Afghanistan, mainly to the neighbouring countries of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan,
started in 1979; by the end of 1979 there were over 400 000 Afghans in Pakistan.32

1.1.2 Overview of Afghan displacement to Pakistan
Afghanistan has a long history of protracted international displacement. The developments in the
recent history of Afghanistan generated successive waves of displacement of Afghan refugees fromAfghanistan to Pakistan.33
On 27 April 1978, the so-called Saur Revolution brought the Afghan communists to power.34 In 1979,
the Government of the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the communist Afghan
government headed by Babrak Karmal. The invasion was followed by a decade of armed conflict
between the Afghan government, supported by Soviet troops, and armed opposition groups often
referred to as the ‘mujahideen’.35 According to UNHCR, by the end of 1979 there were 400 000
refugees displaced to Pakistan.36 Reportedly a third of the Afghan population was displaced between
1978 and 2001.37 Sanaa Alimia stated that between 1978 and 2011 four to five million Afghans havesought refuge in Pakistan.38
According to the Migration Policy Institute, Pakistan ‘welcomed’ the influx of Afghan refugees at firstin the country.39 Pakistan recognised seven ‘mujahideen’ factions who represented the Afghan
opposition and gave them a role in the registration of refugees.40 In the meantime, Pakistan received
financial support from the international community and built refugee camps, though Pakistan used apart of the international aid to support the opposition groups.41 Pakistan linked the ‘refugee status’42
to the membership of one of the seven ‘mujahideen’ factions. The different factions had control over
the Afghan refugee camps and daily life in the camps became politicised.43
In 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan. This event did not implicate an end to theconflict in Afghanistan. The different factions of the ‘mujahideen’ returned to Afghanistan, making
competing claims to power and civil war started. Afghanistan’s civil war and the advent of the Taliban
reignited a new exodus of Afghans fleeing to Pakistan and Iran.44 The attitude of Iran and Pakistan
toward refugees changed and began to harden. Calls for the eventual return of all Afghans weregrowing in both countries. The support provided to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan by international
nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and UN agencies continued but in a reduced level comparedto the 1980s.45
By 2001, the Taliban controlled almost the whole territory of Afghanistan.46 A majority of the leadersof the Taliban had a background in the politicised Afghan refugee population in Pakistan. In this regard,

32 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
33 Middle East Research and Information Project, Afghanistan's Refugee Crisis, 24 September 2001, url; Migration Policy

Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
34 Clark, K., An April Day that Changed Afghanistan 2: Afghans remember the ‘Saur Revolution’, 27 April 2018, url
35 BBC News, Afghanistan profile – Timeline, September 2019, url
36 UNHCR, Refugees Magazine Issue 108 (Afghanistan : the unending crisis) - The biggest caseload in the world, 1 June 1997,url
37 Middle East Research and Information Project, Afghanistan's Refugee Crisis, 24 September 2001, url
38 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
39 Migration Policy Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
40 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
41 Migration Policy Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
42 The term ‘refugee’ in Pakistan is not used. For more information, see chapter 1.2 Legal status, population and demographyand 1.3 Laws and policies in Pakistan towards Afghan refugees of this report.
43 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
44 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
45 Migration Policy Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
46 CFR, The Taliban in Afghanistan, last updated: 11 March 2020, url

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the Taliban benefited of recruitment and support in Pakistan.47 By the end of 2001 as a consequenceof the September 11 attacks in the United States (US), they were ousted by a US-led military
operation.48
The toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001 marked the beginning of a massive wave of people
returning to Afghanistan. More than 1.5 million Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan in 2002
alone, and the numbers range from 300 000 to 400 000 over the following years.49 A part of the
Taliban militants also went back to Pakistan and searched ‘safe sanctuaries’ among the Afghan refugee
population in Pakistan.50 Kristian Berg Harpviken, a research professor, examined the phenomenon ofrecruitment of militants among the Afghan refugee population by the Taliban. Berg Harpviken statedthat recruitment of Afghan refugees in Pakistan was essential to the Taliban to get strongholds within
Pakistan.51 He stated further that ‘the post-2001 Taliban mobilization was firmly rooted in the
refugeehood that had characterized the past 20 years. Recruitment among exile Afghans in Pakistan,and in part also among recent returnees, was essential to the organization.’52 On 17 February 2020,
the second vice president of Afghanistan, Sarwar Danish, claimed at a conference held on Afghan
refugees in Islamabad that Pakistan allowed the Taliban to recruit among the Afghan refugee
population in Afghan refugee villages. The Prime Minister of Pakistan denied those accusations of ‘safe
havens’ of militants but said that it is impossible to rule out that militants hide among the refugee
population.53
A second, third and even a fourth generation of Afghan refugees is currently living in Pakistan. The
majority of Afghan refugees are children and adolescents who are born and raised in Pakistan.54 As of
17 February 2020, as a part of the UNHCR repatriation monitoring, registered Afghan returnees from
Pakistan were asked about their time in displacement. 65 % of the respondents said they returned to
Afghanistan after spending more than ten years in Pakistan while 32 % reported that they were bornin Pakistan.55

1.2 Legal status, population and demography
1.2.1 Legal status
A report by the Danish Refugee Council stated in September 2018 that the Government of Pakistan
distinguishes between refugees56 (with a recognised status, meaning the PoR cardholders) and those
without this status.57 This differentiation is of importance to the protection, the rights and assistancethat Afghan refugees receive and to which they may be entitled, as stated by the report by the Danish
Refugee Council.58 A 2008 research paper by UNHCR explained that, following the Soviet intervention
in late 1979, UNHCR established a permanent office in Pakistan in 1980, providing assistance to Afghan
47 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
48 CFR, The Taliban in Afghanistan, last updated: 11 March 2020, url
49 Express Tribune (The), Pakistan's Afghan refugees: A timeline, 5 October 2016, url
50 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
51 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
52 Harpviken Berg, K., The Afghan Taliban and Mujahedin: Archetypes of refugee militarization, 23 January 2019, url
53 RFE/RL, Khan Tells Conference There Are No Militant Safe Havens In Pakistan, 17 February 2020, url
54 Khan, M.A., Pakistan’s urban refugees: steps towards self-reliance, February 2020, Forced Migration Review- Cities andTowns, url, p. 50; Pakistan Today, Top UN official due today, as Afghan refugees’ stay nears end, 6 October 2018, url
55 UNHCR, Afghanistan: Voluntary Repatriation Update (December 2019), 17 February 2020, url, p. 5
56 The term refugee is technically not used in Pakistan. Pakistan is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees (also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention) of 28 July 1951 and theProtocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967
57 Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url, p.
1658 Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url, p.
16; ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 11

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refugees, but with the Government of Pakistan always remaining in control of the management ofrefugees. The same source noted that, due to a sharp increase of the refugee population, UNHCR
adopted the practice of prima facie recognition, but still keeping the examination of individual cases‘to the extent possible’. To safeguard control over the refugee population, however, the Governmentof Pakistan decided that for Afghans to be recognised as refugees and thus become eligible forassistance, they had to register with one of the seven parties appointed by the Government as
responsible for refugee’s registration. The source noted that, as a result of such decision, the ‘UNHCR
practice of prima facie recognition was effectively suspended.’59 According to the ADSP study
published in December 2018, UNHCR does not conduct group status determination or grants prima
facie status to Afghans in Pakistan.60 In a 2002 report Human Rights Watch stated that ‘from late 1999
the government refused to consider newly arriving Afghans as prima facie refugees.’61
The Afghan refugees in Pakistan did not need to be in possession of legal documents until 2006. From2006 until 2007 the Government of Pakistan, together with UNHCR started with the registration of
Afghan refugees and issued PoR cards.62 According to the study of ADSP the Afghan population living
in Pakistan can be broadly divided into four categories.63 The PoR cardholders are considered asregistered refugees. In 2017, Pakistan started issuing Afghan Citizens Cards (ACC) to document a partof the unregistered Afghan refugees. Still, there are also unregistered Afghan refugees who are not inpossession of any documents. A last category of the Afghans living in Pakistan are the ones holding an
Afghan passport with a Pakistani visa.64 Figure 1 gives an overview of the four main categories of
Afghans living in Pakistan according to their legal status as described by the study of ADSP.

59 UNHCR, Afghan refugees in Pakistan during the 1980s: Cold War politics and registration practice, 28 June 2008, url, pp.

5-9
60 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 38
61 HRW, Closed Door Policy: Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Iran, February 2002, url, p. 19
62 Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url, p.
16; UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 3
63 This report follows the division according to legal status as stated by the study of ADSP
64 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 11; Tolonews, Pakistan to Host Conference on Afghan
Refugees, 10 February 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 17

Legal status of Afghans in Pakistan

Unregistered
Afghanrefugees
Passport
holders withPakistanivisa

PoR card
holder

ACC holder

Figure 1: Afghans living in Pakistan according to their legal status© Cedoca (based on ADSP)65

1.2.2 Figures and place of residence
Liaqat Banori, the executive director of the Society for Human Rights & Prisoners Aid (SHARP), statedin an interview on 16 February 2020 during a Fact-Finding Mission of Cedoca that there is no properand reliable data available on the population of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He stated that the official
figures are around 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees, 890 000 ACC holders and some 0.5 million
are unregistered. According to his personal opinion, the actual number of Afghan refugees could behigher than the numbers given by UNHCR and the Government of Pakistan. According to Banori, thisis due to the fact that many Afghan refugees abstained from the last census conducted in 2017 inPakistan and that there is no count of newly born children of Afghan refugees available during thisperiod, which unofficially claimed to be around 60 000 a year.66 According to Sanaa Alimia, Pakistan
hosts nearly three million Afghan refugees (registered and unregistered).67
Concerning the number of the Afghan refugee population, UNHCR stated as of 18 March 2020 that
there are 1 420 673 registered Afghan refugees (210 465 households) living in Pakistan (see Figure2).68 Figure 2 gives an overview of the data collected by UNHCR of the Afghan refugee population in
Pakistan since 2002 until 18 March 2020.

65 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 11
66 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
67 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
68 UNHCR, Operational Portal Refugee Situation- Statistics Afghan refugees in Pakistan, last updated: 18 March 2020, url;

UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url

18 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Overview of the Afghan refugee population by UNHCR
2002-2020
Million

Data: UNHCR
3.5
3

Number

2.5
2
1.5

1
0.5
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Year
Figure 2: Overview of the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan 2002-2020 (until 18 March 2020) © Cedoca (based on data
by UNHCR)69

The registered Afghan refugees (meaning the PoR cardholders) can be found living in so-called Afghan
Refugee Villages (ARVs) or in urban settlements where they live together with the Pakistani
population. The study by ADSP described that ‘in general’ only PoR cardholders are allowed to live inan ARV.70 The same source further stated that PoR cardholders and other Afghan refugees are notobliged by the Government of Pakistan to have their residence in an ARV.71 According to data by
UNHCR, as of 18 March 2020, 31 % of the PoR cardholders live in an ARV and 69 % of the PoR
cardholders live outside the ARVs.72 As can be seen in Figure 3 the majority of the Afghan PoR
cardholders live outside an ARV, for example in the provinces of Balochistan and Punjab (see Figure
3).73
In 2002, UNHCR stated that in the 1990s more than 300 ARVs were established in Pakistan.74 According
to data by UNHCR, as of 15 March 2020, there are in total 54 ARVs that are still open in Pakistan.75
There are 43 ARVs established in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 in the province of
Balochistan and one in the province of Punjab.76 According to data of UNHCR, as of 15 March 2020,
the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (58 %) has the highest number of registered Afghan refugees,

69 UNHCR, Operational Portal Refugee Situation- Statistics Afghan refugees in Pakistan, last updated: 18 March 2020, url
70 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url; ADSP, On

the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 1171 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 11
72 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url
73 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url
74 United Nations, Afghan history, n.d., archived page from 6 June 2002 - 26 September 2019, url
75 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url
76 UNHCR, Pakistan: Overview of Afghan Refugee Population and UNHCR Operational Presence | as 31st of Jan, 2020, 14
February 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 19

followed by the province of Balochistan (23 %), the province of Punjab (12 %) and the province ofSindh (5 %) (see Figure 3).77

location ARV% bylocation
urban
settlement

824 904 (58 %)

46 %

54 %

10

325 395 (22 %)

15 %

85 %

Punjab1

166 715 (12 %)

10 %

90 %

Sindh

/

64 890 (5 %)

/

100 %

Islamabad/

34 462 (2 %)

/

100 %

Other locations

/

1%

/

100 %

Province

ARVs

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(including former FATA)

43

Balochistan

Total PoR cardholders

Figure 3: Area-wise breakdown of Afghan refugees (PoR cardholders) in Pakistan% by© Cedoca (based on data by UNHCR)78

Based on his own experience by visiting ARVs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, staff reporter at the NewsInternational in Peshawar, Khalid Khan Kheshgi, mentioned in an interview on 20 February 2020
during a Fact Finding Mission of Cedoca, that the Afghan refugees are leaving the ARVs because of alack of basic facilities. The refugees that are staying are the ones who cannot afford to rent a house in
the cities. According to Kheshgi’s experience, the Afghan refugees prefer to rent a house in the big
cities of Pakistan or to live in a katchi abadi (an informal settlement).79
The observation that Afghan refugees leave the ARVs was also made by Muhammad Tahir Khan, asenior Pakistani journalist. Tahir Khan stated during an interview on 14 February 2020 during a FactFinding Mission of Cedoca that the Afghan refugees are leaving the camps because of the fact thatmany camps are being dismantled. The Afghan people took control over the land when they camehere. But the camps were almost built into the cities. The land was very expensive but it was given to
the Afghan refugees. Many Afghan refugees returned. Local people want their land back but it is very
expensive. The majority of the camps are closed now. According to Tahir Khan there are still campsthat are open but more than 50 % or 60 % of the Afghan refugees have left the camps and the rest
have moved to the cities.80
The Afghan news portal Tolonews reported in February 2020, based on IOM figures as of 4 July 2019,that Pakistan hosts 1.1 million unregistered Afghan refugees. Tolonews refers to those Afghan
refugees who either hold or have registered for an ACC or have no documents at all. Among thoseconsidered unregistered, 549 000 Afghans hold an ACC, a further 333 000 have registered for an ACC
and are in possession of tokens, and another 300-400 000 Afghans hold no legal documentation from

77 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url
78 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url; UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan

Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url
79 Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
80 Khan, T.M., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 14 February 2020

20 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

the Government of Pakistan at all.81 IOM stated in a report published in September 2019 that between
August 2017 and February 2018, the Government of Pakistan and IOM conducted an exercise toregister unregistered Afghan refugees and this resulted in the fact that 879 198 unregistered persons
applied in 21 different locations to receive an ACC (see Chapter 2.2.2 ACC holders).82

1.2.3 Demography
Data on gender, ethnicity and the place of origin in Afghanistan is only available for PoR cardholders.
This data is provided by UNHCR. As of 18 March 2020, in an Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update of
UNHCR, it is stated that of the total number of PoR cardholders living in Pakistan 54 % are male and
46 % are female.83 A further breakdown of the data as of 15 March 2020 shows that of the 46 % female
PoR cardholders the majority are adult women (23 %), followed by girls (21 %) and elderly women(2 %). A further breakdown shows that of the 54 % male PoR cardholders the majority are adult men(28 %), boys (22 %), elderly man (3 %) (see Figure 4).84

Age composition of female
PoR cardholders

Age composition of male
PoR cardholders

Data: UNHCR

Data: UNHCR

2%

3%

23%
21%

Adult women

Girls

Elderly women

22%

Adult men

28%

Boys

Elderly men

Figure 4: Age composition of female and male PoR cardholders © Cedoca (based on data by UNHCR)85

UNHCR provided on 18 March 2020 also a breakdown by ethnicity (see Figure 5). Those figures showthat 85 % of the total number PoR cardholders are Pashtun, followed by Tajik (6 %), Uzbek (3 %),Hazara (2 %), Turkmen (1 %), Baloch (1 %) and other ethnicities.86

81 Tolonews, Pakistan to Host Conference on Afghan Refugees, 10 February 2020, url
82 IOM, Pakistan – Migration Snapshot (August 2019), 2 September 2019, url, p. 13
83 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url
84 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url
85 UNHCR, Overview of Refugee Population in Pakistan – as of 15 March 2020, 24 March 2020, url
86 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 21

Ethnicitiy of PoR cardholders
Data: UNHCR

85%

Pashtun

Tajik

Uzbek

HazaraOther

Turkmen

BalochFigure 5: Ethnicity of PoR cardholders © Cedoca (based on data by UNHCR)87

UNHCR provided data on the province of origin in Afghanistan, as of 18 March 2020. Most PoR
cardholders originate from the province of Nangarhar in Afghanistan, followed by the province ofKunduz and the province of Kabul (see Figure 6).88

Province of origine in Afghanistan of PoR cardholders
Data: UNHCR
25.00%

Percentage

20.00%
15.00%

19, 80 %17, 80 %12, 60 %10, 30 %10.00%
5.00%

8%

7, 20 %

6, 30 %

5, 20 % 5, 20 % 4, 80 %2, 80 %

0.00%

Province of origin Afghanistan
Figure 6: Province of origin in Afghanistan of PoR cardholders © Cedoca (based on data by UNHCR)89

87 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url
88 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url
89 UNHCR, Pakistan - Afghan Refugee Info-graphic Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url

22 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

1.3 Laws and policies in Pakistan towards Afghan refugees
1.3.1 Laws and policies
Pakistan is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (alsoknown as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention) of 28 July 1951 and the Protocol
Relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967.90 The Government of Pakistan has no national
legalisation concerning refugees and it has also no refugee law but Pakistan ‘has generally respectedinternational principles relating to refugee protection’.91 The Foreigners Order of 1951, promulgatedpursuant to the Foreigners Act, 1946 are the only laws pertaining to immigrants. The Foreigners Act,
1946 regulates the entry, stay and movement of foreigners. According to this law all foreigners
without valid documentation, including refugees and asylum seekers, are subject to arrest, detention
and deportation.92 Afghan refugees were exempt from the Foreigners Act, 1946 due to a circularissued in July 1997. In February 2001, the Government of Pakistan issued another circular which statedthat the Foreigners Act, 1946 applies to ‘illegal’ Afghan immigrants, not to ‘refugees’ and therefore
Afghan ‘refugees’ are still subject to orders under the Foreigners Act, 1946 but they are not subject tothe illegal entry and deportation provisions.93 Since 2007, the registration of Afghan refugees under
the PoR card scheme has been regarded as an exemption from the general provisions of the Foreigners
Act, 1946. Those who are unregistered are considered as illegal immigrants. According to the study of
ADSP the unregistered Afghan refugees are subject to arrest and deportation under Section 14 of theForeigners Act, 1946 and several associated criminal provisions. ADSP stated that since 2007, until theissuance of ACC in 2018, there was ‘no major change in the legal status of Afghans living in Pakistan’.94
Since the first wave of Afghans seeking refuge in Pakistan in 1979 Pakistan received international
support for the reception of the Afghan refugees.95 Since 1979, UNHCR has been active in Pakistan.96
In 1980, the Government of Pakistan established the Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees(CCAR) in Islamabad, which is subject to the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON). The
CCAR is charged with the administration and the management of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan. This
includes the registered and unregistered Afghan refugees.97 In a Pakistan Fact-sheet of February 2020
UNHCR stated that it works together with the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR) at thefederal and provincial level.98
The main policy of Pakistan toward Afghan refugees in Pakistan has been to encourage them toparticipate in Assisted Voluntary Repatriation (AVR) schemes.99 In 2003, Pakistan signed a first of aseries of Tripartite Agreements with the Government of Afghanistan and UNHCR to facilitate therepatriation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.100

90 UNHCR, Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees For the Office of the High Commissioner for

Human Rights’ Compilation Report - Universal Periodic Review: Pakistan, 19 April 2012, url, p. 1; UN, Treaty Series, 22 April
1954, vol. 189, url, p. 137
91 UNHCR, Pakistan - Community Based Protection Strategy (2020-2022), 24 December 2019, url, p. 3
92 CAMP, Accessing Justice for Registered Afghan Citizens Living in Pakistan: A Guide to Pakistani Institutions, Laws andProcedures, 2012, url, p. 56; Pakistan, The Foreigners Act, 1946 (Act XXXI of 1946), 23 November 1946, including
amendments as of 28 April 2016, url; Pakistan, Foreigners Order, 1951, 26 October 1951, url
93 CAMP, Accessing Justice for Registered Afghan Citizens Living in Pakistan: A Guide to Pakistani Institutions, Laws andProcedures, 2012, url, p. 56
94 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 21
95 Migration Policy Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
96 UNHCR, [Twitter], posted on: July 2011, url; United Nations Pakistan, Magazine, January 2018, url, p. 9
97 CAR Punjab, Background, 2019, url
98 UNHCR, Fact Sheet-Pakistan, 29 February 2020, url, p. 2
99 Alimia, S., Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 5 June 2019, url
100 UNHCR, Pakistan - Livelihoods Strategy (2018–2021), 10 February 2020, url, p. 7

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 23

On 15 May 2009, the Refugees Affected and Hosting Areas Development (RAHA)-initiative waslaunched by the Government of Pakistan in cooperation with different UN-agencies.101 This five-year
program (2009 –2013) aimed ‘to respond to the political, socio-economic, financial and environmental
consequences associated with hosting Afghan refugees for many years’.102 In 2011, the regional
Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) was developed by the Islamic Republics of Afghanistan,
Iran and Pakistan with the support of UNHCR, and endorsed by the international community in May
2012 in Geneva.103 The RAHA-initiative became an integral component of the regional SSAR.104 During
2016 the Government of Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to the SSAR at different
international meetings.105
In February 2017, the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan endorsed the Comprehensive Policy on Voluntary
Repatriation and Management of Afghan Nationals.106 According to the newspaper Dawn, thisincluded a stricter implementation of immigration laws along the border with Afghanistan, requiring
registered refugees to surrender their PoR cards before going back to Afghanistan and obtain visas toenter Pakistan again, besides extending the refugees’ period of stay until December 2017.107
In 2018, Afghanistan and Pakistan expanded their bilateral cooperation on a variety of issues, including
refugee protection and sustainable return and reintegration, under the Afghanistan Pakistan Action
Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).108
On 16 December 2019, UNHCR and the Governments of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Iran andPakistan initiated the SSAR Support Platform. The SSAR Support Platform supports additional
resources and support for refugees in Iran and Pakistan.109

1.3.2 Citizenship
Article 4 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 stipulates that:‘4. Citizenship by birth.— Every person born in Pakistan after the commencement of this Act
shall be a citizen of Pakistan by birth: Provided that a person shall not be such a citizen by
virtue of this section if at the time of his birth: -- (a) his father possesses such immunity fromsuit and legal process as is accorded to an every of an external sovereign power accredited inPakistan and is not a citizen of Pakistan; or (b) His father is an enemy alien and the birth occurs
in a place then under occupation by the enemy.’110
No provision of law deals with the citizenship of refugees and especially, Afghan refugees inPakistan.111 The status of citizenship is not extended to Afghan refugees in Pakistan even if a child of
an Afghan refugee is born in Pakistan. Some Afghan refugees made efforts to naturalise in Pakistan as

101 RAHA Pakistan, Program document Moving forward 2014-2017, 2016, url, p. 9
102 RAHA Pakistan, Program document Moving forward 2014-2017, 2016, url, p. 9
103 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Regional Overview (Update 2015 - 2016), 10 October 2015, url, p. 8;

UNAMA, Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Iran Pakistan and UN Refugee Agency expect mobilization plan soon, 20 September 2013,url
104 RAHA Pakistan, Program document Moving forward 2014-2017, 2016, url, p. 9
105 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater ResponsibilitySharing, 2 October 2018, url, p. 14
106 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater ResponsibilitySharing, 2 October 2018, url, p. 13
107 Dawn, Strict implementation of immigration laws on Afghan border, 8 February 2017, url
108 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater ResponsibilitySharing, 2 October 2018, url, p. 11
109 UNHCR, New SSAR Support Platform refocuses international attention on displaced Afghans, 19 December 2019, url
110 Pakistan, Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 [Pakistan], 13 April 1951, Art. 4 url
111 EUDO Citizenship Observatory Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in collaboration with Edinburgh University
Law School, Report on Citizenship Law Pakistan, December 2016, url, pp. 5-6

24 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

citizens, however, their claims were denied at administrative and judicial levels.112 The newspaper the
Express Tribune reported in March 2020 that an Afghan refugee has filed a petition in the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) appealing for Pakistani citizenship on the basis of the Pakistan Citizenship Act,
1951.113
Section 3 of the Naturalization Act, 1926 stipulates that a person residing within Pakistan for five years
within the preceding eight years, including the 12 months prior to the application, may acquire
citizenship if they are of good character, can demonstrate knowledge of a local language and declarean intention to permanently reside in Pakistan.114 Granting naturalisation is given by discretion of theFederal government.115 According to the study of ADSP, Afghan refugees who fulfil the criteria havenot been granted naturalisation by discretion of the Federal government.116
On 16 September 2018, Prime Minster Imran Khan announced during a political rally in Karachi in theprovince of Sindh that ‘Afghans whose children have been raised and born in Pakistan will be granted
citizenship Inshallah (God willing) because this is the established practice in countries around theworld.’117 The reactions to the Prime Minister’s speech were mixed. Human rights organisations
welcomed this approach. Opposition parties in Pakistan reacted with a hostile response.118 Imran Khanand his political party retracted granting citizenship to the Afghan refugees in the country.119
Article 10 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 states that:‘10. Married women.— (1) any woman who by reason of her marriage to a [British subject]
before the first day of January, 1949, has acquired the status of a British subject shall, if her
husband becomes a citizen of Pakistan, be a citizen of Pakistan.
(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (1) and subsection (4) a woman who has beenmarried to a citizen of Pakistan or to a person who but for his death would have been a citizenof Pakistan under section 3, 4 or 5 shall be entitled, on making application therefore to theFederal Government in the prescribed manner, add, if she is an alien, on obtaining a certificate
of domicile and taking the oath of allegiance in the form set out in the Schedule to this Act, tobe registered as a citizen of Pakistan whether or not she has completed twenty-one years of
her age and is of full capacity.
(3) Subject as aforesaid, a woman who has been married to a person who, but for his death,
could have been a citizen of Pakistan under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 6(whether the migrated is provided in that sub-section or is deemed under the proviso to
section 7 to have so migrated) shall be entitled as provided in sub-section (2) subject further,
if she is an alien, to her obtaining the certificate and taken the oath therein mentioned.
(4) A person who has ceased to be citizen of Pakistan under section 14 or who has been
deprived of citizenship of Pakistan under this Act shall not be entitled to be registered as a
citizen thereof under this section but may be registered with the previous consent of theFederal Government.’120

112 EUDO Citizenship Observatory Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in collaboration with Edinburgh University

Law School, Report on Citizenship Law Pakistan, December 2016, url, pp. 5-6
113 Express Tribune (The), Alien moves court for Pakistani citizenship, 8 March 2020, url
114 Pakistan, Naturalization Act, 1926 [Pakistan], 26 February 1926, url, Article 10
115 EUDO Citizenship Observatory Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in collaboration with Edinburgh University
Law School, Report on Citizenship Law Pakistan, December 2016, url, p. 7
116 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 39
117 The Guardian, Pakistan's Imran Khan pledges citizenship for 1.5m Afghan refugees, 17 September 2018, url
118 Dawn, Opposition attacks PM's statement on citizenship for children of refugees, 25 September 2018, url
119 Nation (The), Facilitating Afghan Refugees, 27 February 2019, url
120 Pakistan, Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 [Pakistan], 13 April 1951, Art. 10 url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 25

A foreign man cannot acquire the citizenship of Pakistan on marrying a Pakistani woman.121 This
caused unrest among Pakistani women who were married with Afghan refugees when the
Government of Pakistan sought to repatriate Afghan refugees in 2016 (see Chapter 3.4 Marriage).122

1.3.3 Treatment by the state of Pakistan
1.3.3.1 The attitude of the state of Pakistan towards Afghan refugees
Muhammad Tahir Khan, a senior Pakistani journalist, stated in an interview with Cedoca on
14 February 2020 that it has been Pakistan's policy not to forcibly expel Afghan refugees, however,Pakistan wants the refugees to return to Afghanistan as officials cite security challenges and burden
on the country's economy. Khan stated that we have to bear in mind that Pakistan is hosting theAfghan refugees already for 40 years.123
Pakistan is the host of millions of Afghan refugees in the country. Throughout the years Pakistan has
shifted its policy. At the start of the influx of Afghans seeking refuge in Pakistan in 1979, theGovernment of Pakistan welcomed them and Pakistan received help of the international
community.124 According to Amina Khan, researcher at the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISSI) in
Islamabad, during the 1990s and especially in the year 2000 the international support forhumanitarian relief declined and Pakistan’s perspective towards the Afghan refugees changed. The
Afghan refugee’s situation has put a strain on the national resources and economy of Pakistan. The
Government of Pakistan urged for repatriation of the Afghan refugees.125
The security impact of the presence of refugees and to attribute crimes, drugs and militancy to theAfghan refugees in Pakistan played also a role in the shifting attitude.126 The attack on the Army Public
School in Peshawar on 16 December 2014 encouraged Pakistan further to advocate for repatriation.127
According to Omar Waraich, campaign director of Amnesty International (AI) for South Asia, theGovernment of Pakistan ‘…initiated a crackdown that subjected these refugees to harassment andsurveillance. They were punished for the actions of the armed group responsible, which had links to
Afghanistan, and demonized variously as “criminals”, “terrorists”, and “anti-Pakistani”.’128 After theattack on 16 December 2014 the Government of Pakistan developed the National Action Plan (NAP).
In the NAP point 19 stipulates ‘the formulation of a comprehensive policy to deal with the issue of
Afghan refugees, beginning with registration of all refugees’.129 In March 2015, the NADRA was tasked
with the registration of unregistered Afghan refugees. This was a slow process. During 2015 Pakistan
endorsed the commitment of voluntary repatriation of the refugees.130 In the same timeframe the law
enforcing agencies started a ‘crackdown’ against unregistered Afghans refugees. According to Dawn,
thousands of Afghans were arrested under the NAP.131

121 Nation (The), Why is a Pakistani woman’s citizenship still dependent on the verification of a ‘male guardian’?, 12

September 2016, url
122 Dawn, Women seek Pakistani nationality for their Afghan spouses, 6 September 2016, url
123 Khan, T.M., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 14 February 2020
124 Migration Policy Institute, Afghanistan: Displacement Challenges in a Country on the Move, 16 November 2017, url
125 Khan, A., Protracted Afghan Refugee Situation: Policy Options for Pakistan, 10 April 2017, Quarterly Journal Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad, volume 37, number 1, Spring 2017, url, pp. 49-51
126 Khan, A., Protracted Afghan Refugee Situation: Policy Options for Pakistan, 10 April 2017, Quarterly Journal Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad, volume 37, number 1, Spring 2017, url, p. 51; Khan Khattak, R., Afghan refugees and NAP, 2
November 2015, PIPS, url, p. 146
127 Khan, A., Protracted Afghan Refugee Situation: Policy Options for Pakistan, 10 April 2017, Quarterly Journal Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad, volume 37, number 1, Spring 2017, url, p. 54
128 AI, Pakistan: A chance to show leadership on refugee rights, 20 June 2019, url
129 NACTA, National Action Plan, 2014, n.d., url, see point 19 of the National Action Plan
130 Khan Khattak, R., Afghan refugees and NAP, 2 November 2015, PIPS, url, p. 148
131 Dawn, Afghan govt seeks extension in stay of refugees in Pakistan, 30 May 2016, url

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According to AAN’s Jelena Bjelica, the growing enmity triggered Pakistan to oppress the Afghan
refugees in different ways. One of the changing measures, besides a more violent approach, was arevision of the extension policy of the PoR cards. The period of extension became shorter.132 Also,
Jelena Bjelica remarked that ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan strained due to the growing
bilateral ties between Afghanistan and India. According to testimonies of returning Afghan refugees
hostility grew after the inauguration of the Salma Dam, a hydro-power station in Afghanistan’s Heratprovince financed by India.133 Additionally, Amina Khan stated that ties between Pakistan and
Afghanistan deteriorated because of a border clash on 13 June 2016 whereby Afghan and Pakistaniborder guards at the Torkham border crossing exchanged fire.134 In June 2016, new border rules were
imposed by the Government of Pakistan (see Chapter 3.5 Cross-border movement).135 In February
2017, the Federal Cabinet approved the Comprehensive Policy on Voluntary Repatriation andManagement of Afghan Nationals.136
In December 2019, at an informal session of informal Quadripartite (Q4) meeting held in Geneva,
Pakistan agreed together with Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR to implement the three pillars strategy
of voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, sustainable reintegration in home country and support
for host countries.137
In February 2020, Muhammad Abbas Khan, the Commissioner of CAR in the province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, stated that the present refugee system of managing Afghan refugees in Pakistan needs
to be review. Abbas Khan remarked that for managing the Afghan refugees in an efficient manner, theGovernment of Pakistan should think of implementing a national refugee law.138
On 17-18 February 2020, Pakistan together with UNHCR organised an international conference on 40
years of hosting Afghan refugees in the country. Throughout the years, international donors lost theirinterest in the repatriation of refugees. According to the newspaper Dawn Pakistan has been doing anappeal on international community to fulfil their commitment towards ‘honorable and dignified
repatriation’ of Afghan refugees.139

1.3.3.2 The attitude of the police towards Afghan refugees
Detailed information on the capacity, integrity issues and abuse of power of the police and security
forces in Pakistan is available in the EASO COI Report: Pakistan –Security situation (October 2019).
During the period 2015-2017 Human Rights Watch investigated the harassment of Afghan refugees
by the police in Pakistan.140 In a November 2015 report, Human Rights Watch stated that the enmity
against Afghan refugees increased after the attack the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar
in December 2014. Since that moment, according to interviews of Afghan refugees documented by
Human Rights Watch, the Pakistani police carried out raids on Afghan settlements, detained, harassed,and beat Afghan men, extorted bribes and demolished Afghan homes.141 Both registered and
132 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
133 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
134 Khan, A., Protracted Afghan Refugee Situation: Policy Options for Pakistan, 10 April 2017, Quarterly Journal Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad, volume 37, number 1, Spring 2017, url, p. 56
135 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url; NewsInternational (The), Policy for repatriation of Afghan refugees gets tougher, 27 June 2016, url
136 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater ResponsibilitySharing, 2 October 2018, url, p. 13
137 Pakistan Today, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, UNHCR seek repatriation of Afghan refugees, 11 October 2019, url
138 Khan, M.A., Pakistan’s urban refugees: steps towards self-reliance, February 2020, Forced Migration Review- Cities andTowns, url, p. 52
139 Dawn, International conference to renew focus on Afghan refugees, 12 February 2020, url
140 HRW, “What Are You Doing Here?” Police Abuses Against Afghans in Pakistan, 18 November 2015, url; HRW, For Afghan
Refugees, There's No Going Back, 13 April 2017, url; HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of
Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url; HRW, Pakistan: Renewed Threats to Afghan Refugees 1 July 2016, url
141 HRW, “What Are You Doing Here?” Police Abuses Against Afghans in Pakistan, 18 November 2015, url, p. 1; pp. 18-31

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 27

unregistered Afghan refugees experienced abuses by the Pakistani police.142 A decrease in policeabuses was seen during the last months of 2015.143
In a July 2016 report, Human Rights Watch noted more abuses by the Pakistani police against Afghan
refugees between July and December 2016. The police arrested registered Afghan refugees, restricted
the freedom of movement and arrested so-called illegal Afghan settlers.144 According to Human Rights
Watch in a February 2017 report, this was due to a media campaign exercised by the Pakistaniauthorities and the uncertainty about the extension of the stay of Afghan refugees.145 Afghan refugees
interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that the police raided their homes at night, accused themof being or harbouring terrorists, threatened to split up families and deported them, arbitrarily
detained them for hours or days at a time and regularly were bribed.146
The newspaper Dawn, citing documents of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s Directorate ofProsecution and Department of Police, noted that only 1.3 % of the accused persons in criminal casesin the period 2014 until September 2016 were Afghan refugees. According to Dawn, while some casesof criminality in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were related to Afghan refugees, the belief thatthey are to blame for the majority of the crimes has been overemphasised.147
The annual report on human rights in Pakistan (covering 2018) published by the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), described that a perception still exists in Pakistan that all Afghan
refugees are involved in criminal and terrorism related activities. HRCP mentioned that reporting of
harassment by the police and local authorities continued.148 According to the USDOS annual report on
human rights practices in Pakistan (covering 2019), there were reports of harassment towards Afghan
refugees by the police and the provincial authorities however the number was less than in previous
years.149
UNHCR monthly update of the Legal Assistance and Aid Program published on 18 March 2020
collected data of the arrests and detentions by year of registered Afghan refugees (PoRcardholders).150
Figure 7 shows the arrests and detentions since 2016 until 31 March 2020 of PoR cardholders. Figure
7 shows that most arrests and detentions of PoR cardholders occurred in the year 2016. Since 2016
the numbers of arrests and detentions are declining, except in 2019 where the number is slightly
higher than in 2018.151 From 1 January until 31 March 2020, 126 PoR cardholders were arrested
according to data of UNHCR.152

142 HRW, “What Are You Doing Here?” Police Abuses Against Afghans in Pakistan, 18 November 2015, url, p. 1
143 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 13
144 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 15
145 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 17, p. 15
146 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, pp. 18-19
147 Dawn, KP prosecution data gives lie to claims against Afghan refugees, 15 January 2017, url
148 HRCP, State of Human Rights in 2018, March 2019, url, p. 237
149 USDOS, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2019 - Pakistan, 11 March 2020, url, p. 29
150 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1
151 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1;

UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, pp. 2- 3
152 UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, pp. 2-3

28 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Number of arrests and detention (PoR cardholders) 20162020
Data: UNHCR
7000
5895
6000

Number

5000
3477

4000
3000

1344
2000

1396
126

1000
0
2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Year
Figure 7: Arrests and detentions PoR cardholders 2016 – 2020 (31 March 2020) © Cedoca (based on data of UNHCR)153

According to Liaqat Banori, SHARP deals mostly with police harassment cases. The police harass
Afghan refugees and demand bribes and money. SHARP tries to intervene to release the Afghan
refugees before there is a formal charge. SHARP brings the support but if they are charged and brought
before the court (not in criminal cases because SHARP does not support that) then the legal teams
help them in court proceedings. It is pertinent to mention according to Banori that since the inceptionof the new government in Pakistan154 the protection issues considerably reduced because a yearlong
extension of PoR cards and other socio-political issues in the country.155 Khalid Khan Kheshgi
interviewed many Afghans before the instalment of the current government. Kheshgi stated that thepolice or other law-enforcing personnel stop or check everyone at check posts, including Afghan
refugees. When they have proper documents (for example Afghan refugees with PoR cards), the policeand or other law-enforcing personnel will leave them alone. But if they do not have proper documents,
they will ask for money and bribes. They have their own purposes to perform controls at checkposts.156
Liaqat Banori stated that 2019 is the first year that the harassment has reduced because of thegovernment’s policy and because of the fact that the PoR cards were extended until 30 June 2020.
Earlier they used to face more harassment because the police were not notified of the extensions.
SHARP has to approach the authorities to inform them about the extension of the time period.157
According to data of UNHCR most arrests in 2019 (1 396 arrests) were made without any charges(66 %), followed by arrests under preventive and rental restriction laws (2 %) and arrests under The
Foreigners Act, 1946 (10 %).158 According to data of UNHCR in its monthly update of the Legal
Assistance and Aid Program published on 18 March 2020, most arrests in the period January-February2020 (102 arrests) were made without any charges (79 %), followed by arrests under preventive and
153 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1;

UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, p. 2
154 Liaqat Banori means the government installed under Prime Minister Imran Khan in July 2018.
155 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
156 Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
157 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
158 UNHCR, Pakistan: Summary of Legal Assistance and Aid Programme, 1 January -31 December 2019, 20 January 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 29

rental restriction laws (11 %) and arrests under The Foreigners Act, 1946 (10 %).159 According to dataof UNHCR, the majority of the arrests and detentions of PoR cardholders in 2019 occurred in theprovince of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.160
As stated by UNHCR, a percentage of the arrests and detentions of PoR cardholders occurred under
the Foreigners Act, 1946.161 The Foreigners Act, that legislates the unauthorized stay of foreigners,
stipulates that all foreigners without valid documentation, including refugees and asylum seekers, aresubject to arrest, detention and deportation (see also Chapter 1.3.1 Laws and policies).162 A 2012
report of the organisation Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) stated that also
PoR cardholders have been arrested, detained and deported, especially those who did not have their
PoR card on their person at the relevant time, or had lost it.163
In April 2019, the News International reported that the police orchestrated a campaign in Peshawar
in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to arrest and deport those who are having connections withcriminal groups. The police arrested 46 Afghans who were residing illegal in Pakistan. The cases wereregistered under the Foreigners Act, 1946.164

1.3.3.3 Freedom of movement
Article 3 Section 2(e) of The Foreigners Act, 1946 stipulates that:‘(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generally of the foregoing power orders made under
this section may provide that the foreigner[…] (e) shall comply with such conditions as may be prescribed or specified(i) requiring him to reside in particular places;(ii) imposing any restrictions on his movements;[…]165

Article 11 of The Foreigners Order, 1951 stipulates that:‘The civil authority may, by order in writing, direct that any foreigner shall comply with such conditionas may be specified in the order in respect of- (1)his place of residence, (2)his movements, (3)his
association with persons of a description specified in the order, and (4)his possession of such articles
as may be specified in the order.’166
According to the ADSP study, in the early years of the influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan thegovernment allowed freedom of movement.167 UNHCR noted that the PoR card provides the holders
with freedom of movement.168 A September 2018 report of the Danish Refugee Council stated that
there is no official law regulating the freedom of movement or imposing ‘embargo areas’ forregistered or unregistered Afghan refugees.169 The report noted the following:

159 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1
160 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 2
161 UNHCR, Pakistan- Legal Assistance and Aid Program Update, Monthly Update (February 2020), 18 March 2020, url, p. 1
162 Pakistan, The Foreigners Act, 1946 (Act XXXI of 1946), 23 November 1946, including amendments as of 28 April 2016, url
163 CAMP, Accessing Justice for Registered Afghan Citizens Living in Pakistan: A Guide to Pakistani Institutions, Laws andProcedures, 2012, url, p. 56
164 News International (The), 46 Afghans arrested for living illegally in Peshawar, 3 April 2019, url
165 Pakistan, The Foreigners Act, 1946 (Act XXXI of 1946), 23 November 1946, including amendments as of 28 April 2016,
Art. 3 section 2(e), url
166 Pakistan, Foreigners Order, 1951, 26 October 1951, Art. 11, url
167 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 38
168 UNHCR, Pakistan: Afghan Refugees Registration Update |January, 2020, 14 February 2020, url, p. 1
169 Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url,
p. 22

30 —

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES‘However, the gradual tightening up of registration processes, accelerated repatriation, and increasingharassment, imprisonment, and threats of deportation have undermined their freedom of movement,
in practice creating, as in Iran, an informal coercive environment especially for the undocumented:
Afghans have restricted movements outside the refugee villages or their homes, thereby also limiting
access to better-paying economic opportunities. In contrast to Iran, in Pakistan there are no official
regulations that limit freedom of movement or embargo areas for the Afghans whether refugees,
those with ‘subsidiary’ protection (such as the ACC), and the undocumented.’170
The ADSP study explained that PoR cardholders living outside the camps do not need documents totravel to other areas. PoR cardholders living in a camp receive a travel permit granted by theadministrator of the refugee village.171 All other Afghan refugees are able to travel to other areas but
those without documents are at risk to apprehension when they travel outside of their place ofresidence.172
In an article published in January 2016, Human Rights Watch stated that because of police abuses, theAfghan refugees restricted their movements, ‘leading to economic hardship and curtailing access to
education and employment’.173
At the end of June 2016, the provincial government spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mushtaq
Ghani, warned that from the start of 1 July 2016, ‘all Afghan refugees will be restricted to their camps
and will not be allowed to move freely in the province.’174
An article published by Anadolu Agency in January 2018, stated that in light of a possible extension
for a period of only 30 days of the PoR cards and the fear that the cards would not be extended, theAfghan refugees decided to restrict their movements outside the camps.175
In December 2018, the provincial government spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ajmal Khan Wazir,stated that ‘there is no sanction on movement of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, however the criminal
elements would be dealt with iron hands.’176
The Afghan news portal Pajhwok Afghan News reported that on 1 March 2019 a ten-day ban was
imposed on the movement of Afghan refugees outside their refugee villages in Kohat in the provinceof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.177
In April 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan there were reports that ARVs
in some districts were placed under quarantine and this had an impact on the freedom of movement.
This was the case for ARVs in Nowshera and Lower Dir. The district administration and the Pakistan
Army closed the bazaar, medical stores and shops. The military personnel were deployed at entry andexit routes of the ARV in Nowshera. The Timergara ARV in Lower Dir has been voluntarily locked downby the residents of the ARV.178

170 Danish Refugee Council, Protection for forcibly displaced Afghan populations in Pakistan and Iran, September 2018, url,p. 22
171 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 20
172 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 20
173 HRW, Pakistan: Extend Afghan Refugee Status Through 2017, 16 January 2016, url
174 Dawn, Over 2,000 Afghan refugees arrested in Peshawar: KP police, 28 June 2016, url
175 Anadolu Agency, Afghan refugees in Pakistan reluctant to return home, 6 January 2020, url
176 Express Tribune (The), 'No restriction on movement of Afghan refugees', 12 December 2018, url
177 Pajhwok Afghan News, Curbs on movement of Afghans in Kohat lifted, 5 March 2019, url
178 MENAFN, Pakistan- Afghan refugees camps in Nowshera, Lower Dir sealed, 9 April 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 31

1.3.4 General attitude of the Pakistan population towards Afghan refugees
The study of ADSP stated that in recent years the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan has been
associated with terrorism and security issues. This association influenced the opinion of the Pakistani
population.179
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported in a
Humanitarian Bulletin of September 2016 that ‘many returnees cited increased pressures byauthorities and host communities.’180 In a February 2017 report, Human Rights Watch reported about
the hostility of the Pakistani community towards Afghan refugees. Human Rights Watch noted frominterviews with Afghan refugees in Pakistan that after the death of an official of the Pakistani armynear the Afghan border in June 2016 there was a shift in the attitude of the local population. According
to Human Rights Watch, local communities told the Afghan refugees ‘to go home’ and they referredto the Afghan refugees as ‘sons of Hindus’, referring to the improved ties of India with Afghanistan.181
In June 2019, Tribal News Network (TNN) cited a minister of the provincial Government of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, who stated that ‘Pakistan’s peace, business activities and infrastructure were [sic]affected due to the long stay of Afghan refugees.’182 Villagers of Koga Village in Buner asked thegovernment to vacate the Afghan refugee village in Koga because of frictions about land andbusinesses. The villagers blamed the Afghan refugees for occupying agricultural land. They stated that
the Afghan refugees are a burden on the economy.183
According to Khalid Khan Kheshgi, in general the Pakistani population does not have problems with
the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. Most Pakistani people in rural areas have friendly relationships
with the Afghan refugees because they work on their fields. In the cities, sometimes, Pakistani traders
and businessmen have problems with the Afghan refugees because they have the same interests as
the Afghan refugees in setting up small business, restaurants or doing trade. Among those people
there is a sense of jealousy.184
Liaqat Banori stated that he is not aware of disputes between the Afghan refugees and Pakistanicommunities and described the relations between both communities as ‘peaceful’. Bearing in mind
that Pakistan hosts such a big number of refugees for almost four decades, the overall environment
among refugees and host communities is cordial and no big issues ever appeared at communities’level, which is a positive sign according to Banori.185
Muhammad Abbas Khan, the Commissioner of CAR in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stated in
February 2020 that there are some frictions between the host and refugee communities due to‘competition over limited resources’.186

179 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 7
180 UNOCHA, Afghanistan Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 56 | 01-30 September 2016, 30 September 2016, url, p. 5
181 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 26
182 TNN, KP govt opposes further extension in stay of Afghan refugees, 9 June 2019, url
183 TNN, Villagers ask govt to vacate Afghan refugees’ camp in Buner, 29 June 2019, url
184 Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
185 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
186 Khan, M.A., Pakistan’s urban refugees: steps towards self-reliance, February 2020, Forced Migration Review- Cities andTowns, url, p. 51

32 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

2. Documentation of registered andunregistered Afghan refugees
2.1 Registered Afghan refugees
2.1.1 PoR cardholders
History
In a 2002 Human Rights Watch report, it was stated that the Government of Pakistan issued so-called
passbooks (also known as Shanakhti passes) in the early years of the 1980s. The passbooks provided
no legal protection and were used only for assistance.187
In December 2004, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between UNHCR and theGovernment of Pakistan agreeing to conduct a detailed census of Afghans who had arrived after
1 December 1979. The MoU led to a countrywide census of the Afghan refugee population, carriedout by the Population and Census Organization (PCO) of Pakistan between 25 February 2005 and
11 March 2005. Around three million Afghans were counted in the census.188
In April 2006, a MoU on the Registration of Afghan Citizens in Pakistan was signed between the
Government of Pakistan and UNHCR. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) was
responsible for the registration. Staff from UNHCR monitored the registration process. Staff from theAfghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MORR) ‘was also involved in assisting with theregistration and monitoring process’. Bio-metrics were included to ensure the credibility of theregistration. Only Afghan refugees who arrived or were born after 1 December 1979 in Pakistan and
who were enumerated in the census of 2005 (result of the census : 3 049 268 persons) were eligible
for registration.189 A 2007 article in the New Humanitarian reported that in December 2006 it had
been decided that all Afghans holding documented evidence of living in Pakistan at the time of thecensus should participate in the registration process.190
The registration was conducted in different phases. First, a pilot project was set up from
1 October 2006 until 10 October 2006 in two ‘selected locations’ in the provinces of Punjab andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa to refine the process. A first phase started on 15 October 2006 and lasted until
31 December 2006 and was exercised in the whole country. A second registration phase took placefrom 4 January 2007 until 15 February 2007.191 According to UNHCR, between 1 October 2006 and
15 February 2007 2 153 088 Afghans were registered, so it lacked 30 % of the census total because
582 535 persons were repatriated and 313 645 persons did not register.192 More than 1.5 million PoR
cards (for all Afghans aged five years and above) were printed and distributed in 2007.193 In February
2007, all concerned parties agreed to link the PoR card to new voluntary repatriation modalities andto an enhanced reintegration package when returning to Afghanistan.194 UNHCR stated that registered
Afghans with a PoR card were granted temporary protection.195

187 HRW, Closed Door Policy: Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Iran, February 2002, url, p. 19
188 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 3
189 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 3
190 New Humanitarian (The), UN cautions on Afghan refugee camp closures, 17 January 2007, url
191 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 3
192 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 4
193 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 2
194 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 2
195 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 2

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 33

Registration process and modifications
The NADRA was also responsible for issuing the PoR cards196 All registered Afghans received a PoR
card ‘with biometric and personal data’.197 A database (maintained by the NADRA) was establishedwhich contained the demographic data and biometric data of all Afghan refugees for whom a PoR card
was issued.198 From February 2014 until the end of 2014 a renewal exercise of the PoR cards was
conducted. All PoR cards that expired in December 2012 were replaced by new PoR cards. In a second
phase, from July 2014 until the end of 2014, NADRA registered and issued PoR cards to around 150 000
children born to registered parents in the previous five years.199 After this renewal process in 2014,no new cards200 were issued to Afghans, except to children of PoR cardholders. Children of registered
Afghan refugees are entitled to their own PoR cards when they reach the age of five years.201
It is possible to make modifications to a PoR card. In 2008, UNHCR stated that four centres opened
nationwide to update and modify PoR cards. The PoR card modification centres (PCM) were opened
in Peshawar, Haripur, Quetta and Karachi. The centres are run by the NADRA, CCAR and UNHCR.202
The purpose of the PCM centres is to update, correct or modify the details enlisted on the PoR cards.
These modifications include mistakes in the spelling of names and dates of birth, the inclusion of
newborn children and children who turned five years. Damaged, stolen or lost PoR cards can also be
replaced. UNHCR stated that in case of modifications, valid documents must be presented, such as
birth certificates, a Basic Health Unit (BHU) card/vaccination card, school certificates, driving licenses,
passports, a refugee camp card or marriage certificates.203 Mobile registration vans were also
deployed to remote areas to alter PoR cards.204
In its Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, covering the month of January 2020, UNHCR
reported that there are four PCM centres now located in Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
On 17 March 2020, UNHCR announced that the four PCM centres have been closed temporally due tothe outbreak of COVID-19.205 In December 2019, UNHCR announced a new policy for the collection of
all undelivered modified PoR cards. The policy requires that PoR cardholders who wish to modify theircards will be given 13 months to collect their issued cards from the PCM centres. If they fail to collect
their modified PoR cards within this timeframe, their cards shall be withdrawn and these PoR
cardholders will be deregistered from the NADRA database, leading to cancellation of their ‘refugee
status’.206

Validity of the PoR cards
The PoR cards issued to Afghans in the period from 1 October 2006 until 15 February 2007 had initiallya validity until the end of December 2009.207 The Government of Pakistan extended the validity of thecards until 31 December 2012.208 In December 2012, the Government of Pakistan, in view of the

196 UNHCR et al., Registration of Afghans in Pakistan 2007, 2007, url, p. 2
197 UNHCR, The Global Report 2006, 30 June 2007, url, p. 365
198 NADRA, Afghan National Registration, n.d., url
199 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url; UNHCR, NADRA

with support from UNHCR has delivered 50 percent of the new POR cards to Afghan refugees, 1 May 2014, url
200 The PoR-cards were never physically replaced with new cards
201 HRW, Pakistan: Stop Forced Returns of Afghans, 21 February 2015, url
202 UNHCR, Afghans now able to update, modify identification in Pakistan, 10 November 2008, url
203 UNHCR, Afghans now able to update, modify identification in Pakistan, 10 November 2008, url
204 UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (January 2020), 14 February 2020, url,
p. 1
205 UNHCR, Proof of Registration Card Modification Centres close temporarily in Pakistan, 17 March 2020, url
206 UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (January 2020), 14 February 2020, url,
p. 2
207 Pajhwok Afghan News, In Pakistan, Afghan refugees' blues, 25 June 2015, url
208 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url

34 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

worsening security situation in Afghanistan extended the cards until 30 June 2013.209 In July 2013, theGovernment of Pakistan announced the Tripartite Commission Agreement governing the voluntary
return of Afghans and extended the validity of the PoR cards until the end of December 2015.210
A renewal exercise of the PoR cards followed.211 The renewal exercise occurred in two phases. In afirst phase from February 2014 until the end of June 2014, all PoR cards that expired in December
2012 were replaced by new PoR cards. The Patriot stated in February 2014 that in a second phasefrom July 2014 until the end of 2014, NADRA registered and issued individual PoR cards to 150 000
children born to registered parents in the previous five years, and more than 330 000 Afghan children
below the age of eighteen received birth certificates.212 Since the renewal exercise in 2014, only new
PoR cards are being issued to children of PoR cardholders.213 In 2018 and 2019, extensions of the PoR
cards were announced through notifications of the Government of Pakistan.214
On 16 December 2014, militants affiliated with the Tehrik-e Taliban attacked the Army Public School
in Peshawar in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and killed 141 people, the majority of whom werechildren.215 The attack on the Army Public School and the cordial relationship between India andAfghanistan changed the attitude of the Government of Pakistan towards Afghan refugees. According
to an article of AAN in December 2016, the enmity between Pakistan and Afghanistan was manifested
in many ways, resulting in ‘soft and hard pressure’. This also had an impact on the extension policy of
the PoR cards. The extensions that followed were only for a short period of time.216
In January 2016, Pakistan extended the validity of the PoR cards until 30 June 2016.217 In June 2016,
the PoR cards were prolonged by six months until 31 December 2016. In September 2016, theGovernment decided to extend the validity until March 2017.218 In the following months in 2017 and2018 the extension was only granted for short periods of time (see also Figure 8).219 In the beginningof 2018 tensions rose between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Government of Pakistan stated that
there would be no extension granted after 31 January 2018. According to an article of AAN in January
2018, the uncertainty about the extension of the PoR cards caused anxiety within the Afghan
government and the return issue was placed high on the agenda. The return of a huge influx of Afghan
refugees would put an ‘enormous pressure’ on Afghanistan. International organisations working withrefugees and returnees made efforts to help reach an agreement between both governments on thisissue.220
The PoR cards were extended after January 2018 until March 2018, again extended until 30 June 2018
and again until 30 September 2018.221 In October 2018, the Government of Pakistan prolonged the
209 Pajhwok Afghan News, In Pakistan, Afghan refugees' blues, 25 June 2015, url
210 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url
211 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url
212 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url; UNHCR, NADRA

with support from UNHCR has delivered 50 percent of the new POR cards to Afghan refugees, 1 May 2014, url
213 HRW, Pakistan: Stop Forced Returns of Afghans, 21 February 2015, url
214 SHARP, Notification for Extension in PoR and ACC cards, 30 June 2019, url; SHARP, Interim Notification by SAFRON for
PoR cards expiry, 2 July 2018, url; SHARP, Notification for PoR card extension, 31-Mar, 14 February 2018, url; SHARP,
Notification: Extension of ACC Cards, 30 March 2019, url
215 BBC News, Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead, 16 December 2014, url
216 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
217 HRW, Pakistan: Extend Afghan Refugee Status Through 2017, 16 January 2016, url
218 Dawn, Afghan refugees get another stay extension, 10 September 2016, url
219 SHARP, E-Newsletter Jan-Mar 2017, Issue no. 05, March 2017, url; Xinhua, Afghanistan seeks up to one-year extension of
refugees' stay in Pakistan, 9 January 2018, url; Pajhwok Afghan News, Pakistan extends Afghan refugees’ stay for 2 months,
1 February 2018, url; Nation (The), UNHCR lauds Afghan refugees’ PoR cards extension, 20 March 2018, url; UNHCR, PakistanAfghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (June 2018), 18 July 2018, url
220 Sabawoon, A.M. and Bjelica, J., Still Caught in Regional Tensions? The uncertain destiny of Afghan refugees in Pakistan,
31 January 2018, url
221 Pajhwok Afghan News, Pakistan extends Afghan refugees’ stay for 2 months, 1 February 2018, url; Nation (The), UNHCR
lauds Afghan refugees’ PoR cards extension, 20 March 2018, url; UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration
Update, Monthly Update (June 2018), 18 July 2018, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 35

validity until 30 June 2019.222 In June 2019, the PoR cards were prolonged until 30 June 2020 (seeFigure 8).223

Overview of the extension of the validity of PoR cards
Originally issued PoR cards PoR cards with validity until December 2009224
2006-2007
September 2010

PoR cards valid until 31 December 2012225

January 2013
August 2013
January 2016
June 2016
September 201624 February 2017
January 201831 January 2018
March 2018
June 2018
October 2018
June 2019

Six months extension given until 31 June 2013226
PoR cards renewed until 31 December 2015227
Six months’ extension given until June 2016228
Six months’ extension until 31 December 2016229
Three months’ extension until 31 March 2017230
PoR cards extended until 31 December 2017231
PoR cards extended until 31 January 2018232
PoR cards extended with 60 days (March 2018)233
PoR cards extended until 30 June 2018234
PoR cards extended until September 2018235
PoR cards extended until 30 June 2019236
PoR cards extended until 30 June 2020237

Figure 8: Table overview of the extension of the validity of PoR cards238

222 UNHCR, UNHCR welcomes Pakistan’s decision to extend stay of Afghan refugees, 5 October 2018, url
223 Express Tribune (The), Afghan refugees allowed to stay in Pakistan for another year, 28 June 2019, url
224 Pajhwok Afghan News, In Pakistan, Afghan refugees' blues, 25 June 2015, url
225 Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url
226 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
227 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
228 HRW, Pakistan: Extend Afghan Refugee Status Through 2017, 16 January 2016, url
229 Dawn, Afghan refugees get another stay extension, 10 September 2016, url
230 Dawn, Afghan refugees get another stay extension, 10 September 2016, url
231 SHARP, E-Newsletter Jan-Mar 2017, Issue no. 05, March 2017, url
232 Xinhua, Afghanistan seeks up to one-year extension of refugees' stay in Pakistan, 9 January 2018, url
233 Pajhwok Afghan News, Pakistan extends Afghan refugees’ stay for 2 months, 1 February 2018, url
234 Nation (The), UNHCR lauds Afghan refugees’ PoR cards extension, 20 March 2020, url
235 UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (June 2018), 18 July 2018, url
236 UNHCR, UNHCR welcomes Pakistan’s decision to extend stay of Afghan refugees, 5 October 2018, url
237 Express Tribune (The), Afghan refugees allowed to stay in Pakistan for another year, 28 June 2019, url
238 Pajhwok Afghan News, In Pakistan, Afghan refugees' blues, 25 June 2015, url; Patriot (The), NADRA to issue renewed PoR

cards to 1.6 million Afghan refugees, 26 February 2014, url; Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of
Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url; HRW, Pakistan: Extend Afghan Refugee Status Through 2017, 16
January 2016, url; Dawn, Afghan refugees get another stay extension, 10 September 2016, url; SHARP, E-Newsletter Jan-Mar
2017, Issue no. 05, March 2017, url; Xinhua, Afghanistan seeks up to one-year extension of refugees' stay in Pakistan, 9January 2018, url; Pajhwok Afghan News, Pakistan extends Afghan refugees’ stay for 2 months, 1 February 2018, url; Nation(The), UNHCR lauds Afghan refugees’ PoR cards extension, 20 March 2020, url; UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card
Registration Update, Monthly Update (June 2018), 18 July 2018, url; UNHCR, UNHCR welcomes Pakistan’s decision to extend
stay of Afghan refugees, 5 October 2018, url; Express Tribune (The), Afghan refugees allowed to stay in Pakistan for anotheryear, 28 June 2019, url36 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

2.2 Unregistered Afghan refugees
2.2.1 Unregistered Afghan refugees
Approximately 500 000 Afghans are living in Pakistan without a PoR card or an ACC according to theCommissioner of the CAR, cited in the news portal Xinhua.239 The Government of Pakistan considers
these unregistered Afghans as ‘illegal immigrants’. According to the report of ADSP, the unregistered
Afghans could be arrested and prosecuted under the relevant provisions of Pakistani law. According
to ADSP no ‘punitive’ measures have been announced for unregistered Afghans.240 The Express
Tribune stated in February 2020 that there is no data available in the province of Sindh about personsof Afghan origin, including registered, unregistered and those classified as illegal migrants. Therefore,
the Government of Sindh plans to document all registered, unregistered and illegal Afghan migrants
residing in the province of Sindh.241

2.2.2 ACC holders
The registration of unregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan was a part of the Comprehensive Policyon the Repatriation and Management of Afghans, which was endorsed by the Federal Cabinet ofPakistan in February 2017. On 20 July 2017, the Government of Pakistan initiated a pilot project inIslamabad and Peshawar to register Afghan refugees who were not in possession of documents.242 On
16 August 2017, the project was extended to all provinces in Pakistan.243 Initially, this project had aduration of six months and would be concluded in December 2017.244 Unregistered Afghans who
registered under this project were provided with an ACC.245 Because of security reasons aroundMuharram in September 2017 the registration was suspended for two weeks in the province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.246 In January 2018, IOM announced on Twitter that the registration period wasprolonged until 31 January 2018.247
The ACC provides unregistered Afghans with certain benefits, such as legal protection from arbitraryarrest, detention or deportation under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The card allows Afghans to stay inPakistan for the time being, until they can obtain documents such as passports issued by theGovernment of Afghanistan, according to the study of ADSP.248
The NADRA, SAFRON and the MORR supervised the project with support from IOM and UNHCR.249 A
statement of IOM published in September 2017 explained the documentation process. Together with
CCAR, IOM launched an information campaign through print media and radio to raise awarenessamong unregistered Afghan refugees. IOM provided also technical support and deployed staff tovarious documentation centres across Pakistan to monitor the process and inform authorities about
the challenges.250 NADRA has set up 21 centres across Pakistan to implement the programme.251 The
newspaper the Nation stated that officials of the Government of Afghanistan would also present in

239 Xinhua, Feature: Int'l attention could bring better life to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, 16 February 2020, url
240 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 14
241 Express Tribune (The), Sindh govt to register Afghan migrants, 9 February 2020, url
242 UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url
243 UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url
244 Dawn, Registration of undocumented Afghans starts today, 16 August 2017, url
245 UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url
246 TNN, Registration of Afghan refugees suspended in KP during Muharram, 23 September 2017, url
247 IOM Pakistan, [Twitter], 4 January 2018, url
248 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 7
249 UNHCR, Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme, 21 July 2017, url
250 IOM Pakistan, UN Migration Agency Supports Pakistan’s Registration of Undocumented Afghans, 19 September 2017, url
251 IOM Pakistan, UN Migration Agency Supports Pakistan’s Registration of Undocumented Afghans, 19 September 2017, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 37

the documentation centres.252 According to TNN, citing a statement of SAFRON, all unregistered
Afghan nationals were able to apply for an ACC, free of cost. To apply for the ACC, the Afghan nationals
could show any document to prove their identity. The statement said further that Afghans in thepossession of PoR cards do not require an ACC.253
A report of the Australian Government-Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), published in
February 2019, described the registration process in detail. According to this report, the NADRA doesa biometric verification and cross checks applicants in the existing identification databases(Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC)-database and PoR card database). The MORR conducts
an interview with the applicants. ACCs are issued once both the Pakistan and Afghan governments areconvinced of the Afghan identity of an applicant.254 DFAT remarked that about 6 000 PoR cardholders
were denied ACCs after performing biometric checks. Due to conflicting PoR card status or fraudulent
applications 15 % of the 878 604 ACC applicants were likely to be rejected in January 2018 at theclosure of the registration. Single males under 18 years were refused registration.255 Once a person isregistered and found eligible, that person receives a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (also known as a‘token’), while waiting to receive a printed ACC.256
In November 2017, the newspaper Dawn, citing an official of the NADRA, stated that approximately
40 to 45 % of the applicants for an ACC were Afghan passport holders.257 Dawn stated further that
despite registering 370 000 unregistered Afghan nationals the NADRA did not deliver the cards.258 In
November 2017, UNHCR stated that the ACCs would be issued in March 2018.259
IOM stated in a report published in September 2019 that between August 2017 and February 2018,879 198 unregistered Afghans applied for an ACC.260 The Afghan news portal Tolonews reported in
February 2020, citing IOM figures, that approximately 549 000 Afghans hold an ACC and 333 000
Afghans are in the possession of tokens.261
According to the newspaper Dawn in November 2018, the Pakistan government requested that
Afghan refugees in possession of an ACC were to be repatriated by December 2018.262 A notificationon the website of SHARP, published on 30 June 2019, stated that the validity of the ACCs has been
extended until 31 October 2019.263 In an email to Cedoca on 3 April 2020, Banori stated that thevalidity of the ACCs was extended until March 2020 and was again extended for two months until May
2020.264

252 Nation (The), Govt to issue Afghan Citizen cards to illegal refugees, 19 July 2017, url
253 TNN, Citizen Card scheme launched for illegal Afghan refugees, 18 July 2017, url
254 DFAT, Country Information Report Pakistan, 20 February 2019, url, p. 31
255 DFAT, Country Information Report Pakistan, 20 February 2019, url, p. 32
256 DFAT, Country Information Report Pakistan, 20 February 2019, url, p. 32
257 Dawn, Nadra yet to issue cards to 370,000 registered Afghans, 13 November 2017, url
258 Dawn, Nadra yet to issue cards to 370,000 registered Afghans, 13 November 2017, url
259 UNHCR, UNHCR Monthly Protection Trends Reporting Concerning Afghan Refugees | November 2017, November 2017,

url, p. 1
260 IOM, Pakistan – Migration Snapshot (August 2019), 2 September 2019, url, p. 13
261 Tolonews, Pakistan to Host Conference on Afghan Refugees, 10 February 2020, url
262 Dawn, Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to follow timeline for refugees return, 8 November 2018, url
263 SHARP, Notification for Extension in PoR and ACC cards, 30 June 2019, url
264 Banori, L., email, 3 April 2020

38 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

2.3 Return2.3.1 General
The influx of returning Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan is closely linked to the evolutionof Pakistan’s policy concerning Afghan refugees265, the internal security dynamics, the relationshipbetween Pakistan and Afghanistan, the ties between Afghanistan and India and the extension of thevalidity of the PoR cards, according to multiple sources.266
After the fall of the Taliban in 2001 in Afghanistan, many Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistanwith the support of UNHCR, international donors and the Afghan government.267 In March 2002, a
UNHCR-funded repatriation programme for refugees started.268 A BBC News article stated that
Pakistani and UN officials said that the ‘take-up was slow’ in 2002.269 In 2007, after a part of the Afghan
refugees received PoR cards, the number of voluntary returns decreased and declined further until
2015 according to an article of AAN which cited IOM, UNHCR and OCHA.270 Pakistan issued various
deadlines for the Afghan refugees to leave the country, but the deadlines were often ‘long-term andnot enforced because UNHCR wanted any repatriation to be voluntary’ (see Figure 8).271 After theattack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014 Pakistan’s attitude towards theAfghan refugees changed and resulted in different measures.272 From December 2015 onwards,
Pakistan set short-term extensions for PoR cardholders (see Figure 8).273 According to multiple reportsof Human Rights Watch, uncertainty about the residency status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan has
encouraged police harassment, threats and extortion in 2015 and throughout 2016.274
In 2015 and 2016 the relationship between Afghanistan and India improved. The renewed ties
between both countries made Pakistan hostile towards Afghan refugees and a spike in returns wasseen in the second half of 2016.275 In July 2016, the Afghan government announced the Khpal Watan,
Gul Watan campaign.276 This campaign was set up to encourage the Afghan refugees to return to
Afghanistan.277
In January 2018, Pakistan again threatened not to prolong the validity of the PoR cards (seeChapter 2.1.1 PoR cardholders).278 The newspaper the Express Tribune stated in January 2018 that thiswas due to an increasing ‘hostile attitude’ of Afghanistan and pressure tactics of the United States.279
Following Pakistan’s decision of 3 January 2018 to extend the PoR cards for one month only, a
representative of IOM told AAN that the Afghan government came up ‘with a contingency plan’, which

265 BBC News, The reverse exodus of Pakistan's Afghan refugees, 28 August 2016, url
266 BBC News, The reverse exodus of Pakistan's Afghan refugees, 28 August 2016, url; Sabawoon, A.M. and Bjelica, J., Still

Caught in Regional Tensions? The uncertain destiny of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, 31 January 2018, url; Bjelica, J., Caught
Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
267 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
268 UNHCR, Mass Information documents on repatriation to Afghanistan, February 2009, url, p. 1
269 BBC News, The reverse exodus of Pakistan's Afghan refugees, 28 August 2016, url
270 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
271 BBC News, The reverse exodus of Pakistan's Afghan refugees, 28 August 2016, url
272 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
273 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
274 HRW, “What Are You Doing Here?” Police Abuses Against Afghans in Pakistan, 18 November 2015, url; HRW, Pakistan:Renewed Threats to Afghan Refugees 1 July 2016, url
275 Bjelica, J., Caught Up in Regional Tensions? The mass return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 22 December 2016, url
276 Translation: my country, my beautiful country or the grass is green in my land; Dawn, Kabul launches campaign to bringrefugees back, 17 July 2016, url
277 Dawn, Kabul launches campaign to bring refugees back, 17 July 2016, url
278 Dawn, No more extension in stay of Afghan refugees, 17 January 2018, url
279 Express Tribune (The), Govt advised against forced repatriation of Afghan refugees, 28 January 2018, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 39

included ‘proactive diplomacy’ and ‘advocacy for gradual voluntary return’.280 At the end of January
2018, the Government of Pakistan extended the validity of the PoR cards for 60 days.281 At the timeof writing of this report, PoR cardholders can stay in Pakistan until 30 June 2020 (see Figure 8).282
A study published in January 2020 by the NGO Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)283 andsupported by the German Federal Foreign Office described the distinction between forced andvoluntary returns as sometimes unclear.284 The study referred to the situation of the return conditionsof Afghan refugees in 2016. IDMC cited an official of the MORR who claimed that ‘almost 1,000 people
every day’ were deported. IDMC stated that a large part of the returns in 2016 were considered
involuntary.285
The following sections in this chapter describe the figures of returnees and the return conditions forregistered and unregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

2.3.2 Return of registered Afghan refugees
Since March 2002, UNHCR facilitated the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. By
the end of the year 2002, UNHCR made the return of about 1.5 million Afghans from Pakistan
possible.286 UNHCR asked in a statement in May 2002 that the Government of Pakistan would bringan end to incidents of police harassment, forced evictions and extortion of Afghan refugees.287 In
March 2003, UNHCR signed the Tripartite Agreement Governing the Repatriation of Afghan Citizens
Living in Pakistan (the Tripartite Agreement) with Afghanistan and Pakistan to provide a legal andoperational framework for voluntary refugee returns.288
In May 2012, UNHCR and the Governments of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan signed the Solutions
Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR). The strategy aims to assist host countries, to support voluntary
repatriation and sustainable reintegration of Afghan refugees in Afghanistan.289 In March 2015,
UNHCR made a pledge to help Pakistan and Afghanistan raise money to implement the Enhanced
Voluntary Return and Reintegration Package (EVRRP).290 In 2013 and 2014, return numbers of Afghan
refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan decreased (see Figure 9). To counter this, UNHCR has proposedcomplementing the USD 200 UNHCR cash grant for returning refugees with a USD 3 000 grant for eachfamily, irrespective of the size of the family.291
In 2016, the attitude of the Government of Pakistan changed and this resulted in shorter extension
periods for PoR cardholders and harassment of Afghan refugees. According to Human Rights Watch‘hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and undocumented Afghans were unlawfully coerced outof Pakistan.’292 Human Rights Watch ousted critics on the work method of UNHCR, stating that ‘UNHCR

280 Sabawoon, A.M. and Bjelica, J., Still Caught in Regional Tensions? The uncertain destiny of Afghan refugees in Pakistan,

31 January 2018, url
281 UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (June 2018), 18 July 2018, url
282 Express Tribune (The), Afghan refugees allowed to stay in Pakistan for another year, 28 June 2019, url
283 IDMC is part of the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
284 IDMC, A different kind of pressure: The cumulative effects of displacement and return in Afghanistan, 15 January 2020
url, p. 11
285 IDMC, A different kind of pressure: The cumulative effects of displacement and return in Afghanistan, 15 January 2020
url, p. 11
286 UNHCR, Mass Information documents on repatriation to Afghanistan, February 2009, url, p. 1
287 UNHCR, UNHCR, Pakistan address complaints from harassed Afghan refugees, 24 May 2002, url
288 UNHCR, Afghanistan tripartite agreement with Pakistan, 18 March 2003, url
289 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Regional Overview (Update 2015 - 2016), 10 October 2015, url, p. 8
290 UNHCR, 2015-2017 Protection Strategy Pakistan: External, n.d., url, p. 4
291 UNHCR, Enhanced Voluntary Return and Reintegration Package for Afghan Refugees (EVRRP): Funding Proposal, March
2015, url, p. 4292 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 5

40 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

failed to call for an end to coercive government practices.’293 Human Rights Watch also criticised thefact that UNHCR doubled the cash grant for returnees in June 2016.294
According to the newspapers Dawn and Daily Times in June 2019, UNHCR and Pakistan and
Afghanistan agreed on a 12-point joint declaration on conclusion of the Tripartite Commission
meeting which discussed safe and honourable voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees.295
Registered Afghan refugees (with a PoR card) are eligible to repatriate with the help of UNHCR.
Afghans without a PoR card or with an expired validity date are not entitled to any return assistancefrom UNHCR.296 According to a December 2019 report of UNHCR, UNHCR currently has two Voluntary
Repatriation Centres (VRCs) in Quetta (Baleli) and Nowshera (Azakhel).297 According to UNHCR,
counselling is provided for Afghans who want to return, to ensure the voluntary nature of the return,following which their return to Afghanistan is scheduled. UNHCR also conducts an exit questionnaire
to understand the profiles of individuals wishing to return, the push and pull factors, special needs
and the intended place of return. In May 2018, UNHCR has strengthened its monitoring process of
returns at the border. This includes a returnee interview, which allows UNHCR to gather information
on any protection issues faced between the time the families depart the VRC and the moment they
arrive at the border.298
Afghans who want to repatriate are de-registered at the VRC and their PoR card is cut in the corner.299
They also need to sign a Voluntary Repatriation Form (VRF)300 at a VRC. In order to obtain a VRF, adeclaration must be signed which states the returnee’s decision to return voluntarily to Afghanistan;
the returnee also needs to confirm the details of his/her family. VRFs cannot be changed. At the timeof issuance, it must be ensured that all information is correctly noted. Upon arrival in Afghanistan,they must approach the nearest Encashment Centre within seven days from their departure toreceive, against one of the copies of the VRF, their cash grant.301 In Afghanistan there are three
Encashment Centres (ECs) located in the provinces of Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar for Afghan
refugees returning from Pakistan.302
UNHCR stated in February 2020 that at the ECs returnees with a valid VRF receive a cash grant
averaging USD 200 per person (based on their area of origin) to support their immediate humanitarianneeds and transportation costs. Additionally, they receive basic health and malnutrition screening andvaccination, information about mine risk awareness, information on school enrolment and overnightaccommodation.303 In June 2016, UNHCR has doubled the cash grant from USD 200 to USD 400.304 In
April 2017, UNHCR has reduced the cash grant to the original amount of USD 200.305

293 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 45
294 HRW, Pakistan Coercion, UN Complicity The Mass Forced Return of Afghan Refugees, 13 February 2017, url, p. 49
295 Dawn, Accord on dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees, 19 June 2019, url; Daily Times, Pakistan, Afghanistan urge

world to come forward to help refugees, 19 June 2019, url
296 UNHCR, Frequently Asked Questions Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees from Pakistan, 2015, 2016, url, p. 1
297 UNHCR, Pakistan-Voluntary Repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan, Monthly Update (November 2019), 24 December
2019, url, p. 1
298 UNHCR, Pakistan-Voluntary Repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan, Monthly Update (November 2019), 24 December
2019, url, p. 1
299 UNHCR, Pakistan-Voluntary Repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan, Monthly Update (November 2019), 24 December
2019, url, p. 1
300 A VRF is a document issued by UNHCR to returning Afghans confirming their intent to return voluntarily to Afghanistanwith the assistance of UNHCR and facilitating their safe travel and provision of assistance in Afghanistan. UNHCR, Frequently
Asked Questions Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees from Pakistan, 2015, 2016, url, p. 3
301 UNHCR, Frequently Asked Questions Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees from Pakistan, 2015, 2016, url, p. 3
302 UNHCR, Afghanistan: Voluntary Repatriation Update - December 2019, 17 February 2020, url, p. 2
303 UNHCR, Afghanistan: Voluntary Repatriation Update - December 2019, 17 February 2020, url, p. 2
304 UNHCR, UNHCR doubles grant for registered Afghan refugees opting to return to Afghanistan, 29 June 2016, url
305 Al Jazeera, UN cuts cash grant to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, 2 April 2017, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 41

In the winter period of 2019/2020 in Pakistan the voluntary repatriation operations were suspended.
UNHCR stated on 2 March 2020 that the voluntary repatriation programme for registered Afghan
refugees resumed on 2 March 2020 after a three-month winter break at Azakhel, Nowshera in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. Voluntary returns from Baleli, Quetta would be resumed a week later.306 On
17 March 2020, UNHCR published a statement that the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees
from Pakistan has been suspended after the country temporarily closed the border crossing at
Torkham and Chaman with Afghanistan due to the outbreak of COVID-19.307 In mid-April 2020, Voiceof America (VoA) cited figures of UNHCR that tens of thousands of Afghan refugees have crossed theborder from Pakistan.308

Number of voluntary returns of registered Afghan refugees
from Pakistan to Afghanistan 2002-2020
Data: UNHCR
1800000
1600000

1 565 095

1400000

Number1200000
1000000
800000600000381 275
383 598
449 520364 476

400000343 074

12 99131 224282 496

59 02014 017
109 383 83 427
58 211
6 220
133 015
52 09628
51 29002002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

200000Year
Figure 9: Number of voluntary returns of registered Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan 2002-2020 (until
13 March 2020) © Cedoca (based on data of UNHCR)309

Figure 9 shows the number of voluntary returns of registered Afghan refugees from Pakistan to
Afghanistan. The data was provided by UNHCR until 13 March 2020. Figure 9 shows a peak of returns
to Afghanistan in the year 2016. From 2017 onwards there is a noticeable decline.310 From 1 to
13 March 2020, UNHCR facilitated the voluntary repatriation of 28 individuals through the voluntary
repatriation centre in Azakhel.311 It has to be noted that in the winter period 2019/2020 in Pakistan,
voluntary return was suspended312 and in a statement of 17 March 2020 UNHCR announced that due
to the outbreak of COVID-19 voluntary return is suspended until further notice.313

306 UNHCR, UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme for Afghan refugees resumed, 2 March 2020, url
307 UNHCR, Voluntary repatriation for Afghan refugees suspended temporarily, 17 March 2020, url
308 VOA, Returning Refugees Could Spread Coronavirus in Afghanistan, UN Warns, 15 April 2020, url
309 UNHCR, Operational Portal Refugee Situation- Statistics Afghan refugees in Pakistan, last updated: 18 March 2020, url;

UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, p. 3
310 UNHCR, Operational Portal Refugee Situation- Statistics Afghan refugees in Pakistan, last updated: 18 March 2020, url;
UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, p. 3
311 UNHCR, Pakistan: Protection Trends January - March 2020, 1 April 2020, url, p. 3
312 UNHCR, UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme for Afghan refugees resumed, 2 March 2020, url
313 UNHCR, Voluntary repatriation for Afghan refugees suspended temporarily, 17 March 2020, url42 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

2.3.3 Return of unregistered Afghan refugees
In a statement of May 2017, IOM stated that since 2012, at the Torkham border crossing, it has been
providing ‘post-arrival humanitarian assistance’ to unregistered Afghan returnees. According to IOM
in May 2017, at the Torkham Transit Center the returnees receive humanitarian support such as food,
temporary accommodation and medical care.314 In reception centres at the border the refugees arescreened and registered. Then they get a referral to the IOM transit centres for some basic
humanitarian support which also includes a small transportation grant for travelling to theirdestination in Afghanistan.315
Since 2015, IOM collects data of unregistered Afghan refugees who return to Afghanistan.316 Figure
10 shows the return of unregistered Afghan refugees from 2015 until 14 March 2020. In its weekly
situation report from 8 March to 14 March 2020, IOM stated that all border crossings with
Afghanistan were to be closed from 16 March until the end of March 2020.317 According to the dataof IOM, the return numbers more than doubled in 2016 compared to 2015.318 According to IOM thiswas due to multiple push and pull factors such as a deteriorating protection space in Pakistan that led
to a rise in returnees in the middle of 2016.319

Returns of unregistered Afghan refugees from
Pakistan to Afghanstan 2015-2020
Data: IOM
300000248 189
250000

Number200000150000119 279
98 191

10000032 72550000

19 770
1 827

0
2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Year
Figure 10: Number of returns of unregistered Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan (until 14 March 2020) ©
Cedoca (based on data of IOM)320

314 IOM, IOM Transit Center on Pakistan Border Expands to Cope with Influx of Afghan Returnees, 21 May 2017, url
315 IOM, IOM Transit Center on Pakistan Border Expands to Cope with Influx of Afghan Returnees, 21 May 2017, url; IOM,UNHCR, Returns to Afghanistan in 2018: Joint IOM-UNHCR Summary Report, 25 June 2019, url, p. 5
316 IOM, Return of Undocumented Afghans from Pakistan and Iran, n.d., url
317 IOM, IOM Afghanistan-Return of Undocumented Afghans- Situation Report 08-14 March 2020, n.d., url, p. 2
318 IOM, IOM Afghanistan - Return of Undocumented Afghans- Weekly Situation Report 25-31 December 2016, n.d., url, p.
1; IOM, IOM Afghanistan Undocumented Afghan Returns from Iran & Pakistan January to December 2015, n.d., url, p. 2
319 IOM, IOM Afghanistan Return of undocumented refugees from Iran and Pakistan 2016 Overview, n.d., url, pp. 1-2
320 IOM, IOM Afghanistan-Return of Undocumented Afghans- Situation Report 08-14 March 2020, n.d., url, p. 1; IOM, IOM
Afghanistan-Return of Undocumented Afghans- Situation Report 5 -11 Jan 2020, n.d., url, p. 1; IOM, IOM Afghanistan-Returnof Undocumented Afghans- Situation Report Jan -Dec 2018 / 01– 05 Jan 2019, n.d., url, p. 1; IOM, IOM Afghanistan-Returnof Undocumented Afghans- Monthly Situation Report- December 2017, n.d., url, p. 1; IOM, IOM Afghanistan - Return ofUndocumented Afghans- Weekly Situation Report 25-31 December 2016, n.d., url, p. 1; IOM, IOM Afghanistan
Undocumented Afghan Returns from Iran & Pakistan January to December 2015, n.d., url, p. 2

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3. Livelihood
The RAHA initiative was initiated in 2009 by the Government of Pakistan. Under the RAHA initiative
multiple projects were carried out in the sectors of education, health, livelihoods, infrastructure,
water, sanitation and social protection.321
In the following chapters the livelihood opportunities are described where possible for the PoR
cardholders, the ACC holders and the unregistered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

3.1 Education
A background paper prepared for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, written by Nicole
Hervé in November 2018, stated that the access to education for Afghan refugees has to be assessedin the light ‘of a generally weak’ educational system in Pakistan.322 In November 2018, Human Rights
Watch cited in a report some figures of the Government of Pakistan that almost 22.5 million children
are out of school.323 The quality of education in Pakistan is poor. Pakistan lacks adequate education
facilities, a lack of trained teachers, a standard medium of instruction in all regions, an updated
curriculum and a standard assessment tool.324
Article 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan stipulates the following:‘The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five tosixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.’325
According to Nicole Hervé, this provision in the law made education possible for all children in
Pakistan, regardless of their origin.326 In December 2012, the National Assembly passed a bill
guaranteeing the fundamental right to free and compulsory education to every child regardless of sex,
nationality, or race in a neighbourhood school.327
According to Nicole Hervé, the Afghan refugees are able to choose different providers of education in
Pakistan. They can attend Pakistani government schools, Pakistani private schools, Afghan private
schools and madrassas.328 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) raised concerns about the low education rates of Afghan refugee girls in its Global Education
Monitoring (GEM) Report 2019. According to a survey in 2011, in Pakistan, 18 % of Afghan refugee
girls are enrolled in school, which is half the enrolment rate of boys (39 %) and less than half the rate
for girls in Afghanistan.329
According to the US Department of State (USDOS) annual report on human rights practices in Pakistan(covering 2019), in theory every registered Afghan refugee with both UNHCR and the government-run

321 UNHCR, Fact Sheet-Pakistan, 29 February 2020, url, p. 4322 Hervé, N., Inclusion of Afghan refugees in the national education systems of Iran and Pakistan, UNESCO, November 2018,

url, p. 11323 HRW, “Shall I Feed My Daughter, or Educate Her?” Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan, 12 November 2018, url
324 Express Tribune (The), Education: a solution for Pakistan, 1 October 2017, url
325 Pakistan, The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 31 May 2018, Article 25A, url
326 Hervé, N., Inclusion of Afghan refugees in the national education systems of Iran and Pakistan, UNESCO, November 2018,
url, p. 12
327 Pakistan (National Assembly, Islamabad), The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2012 (No. XXIV of 2012), 24
December 2012, url
328 Hervé, N., Inclusion of Afghan refugees in the national education systems of Iran and Pakistan, UNESCO, November 2018,
url, p. 15
329 UNESCO, Global education monitoring report, 2019: Migration, displacement and education: building bridges, not walls,
2018, url, p. 59

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Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees, after compiling the paperwork, can be admitted to publicschools.330
Furthermore, USDOS noted the following: ‘Access to schools, however, was on a space-available basis
as determined by the principal, and most registered Afghan refugees attended private Afghan schoolsor schools sponsored by the international community.’331
In the UNHCR Education Activities for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan Infographic published on
10 February 2020, UNHCR stated that 563 000 children of the registered Afghan refugee population
are of school-going age. This is 40 % of the total refugee population. Of the 1.4 million registered
Afghan refugees, 22 % are primary school-age children and 18 % are secondary school-age children.332
The assistance of education provided by UNHCR and CAR is only for PoR cardholders.333 According to
the UNHCR Education Strategy 2020-2022, in the last 40 years UNHCR provided support to over 146
schools in the refugee villages (103 schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 35 in Balochistan and 8 in Punjab).
According to UNHCR, 56 000 refugee children benefitted from this support.334
In January 2018, the newspaper Dawn, citing UNHCR, stated that the Afghan curriculum is used in
refugee schools in Pakistan: ‘This helps prepare pupils for their integration into the schooling system
in Afghanistan should they decide to return.’ The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
ousted criticism that an ‘anti-Pakistan curriculum’ has been taught.335 In October 2018, UNHCR
released a statement in which UNHCR explained that they decided to use the Pakistani curriculum inrefugee village schools, mainly in the primary schools: ‘the quality of learning for Afghan refugee
children in Pakistan will be improved by following the curriculum of Pakistan.’336 In October 2019, theAfghan news portal Pajhwok Afghan News reported that 91 Afghan refugee teachers completed a
training program on the Pakistani curriculum.337
A 2015 report of UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) described that it is perhaps difficultfor Afghan refugees to get access to higher education due to certification issues, financial and social
limitations.338 Admissions for higher education are granted on seats allocated by the Higher Education
Commission (HEC). As to the current government policy, every government institution reserves twoseats for refugees and only PoR cardholders can apply on this quota.339 The annual report of USDOS
of 11 March 2020 remarked ‘for older students, particularly girls in refugee villages, access to
education remained difficult.’340 A scholarship programme by UNHCR and funded by Germany, the
DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) provides scholarships to Afghan refugees
in Pakistan for young adults to get enrolled in higher education.341 The Nation reported in April 2020
that the Allama Iqbal Open University in Balochistan enrolled a number of Afghan refugees in study
programmes. The university will provide them learning facilities in their refugee camps, books will besent by post, and tutors will visit them and guide them in the camps. The university will also perform
examinations in the camp premises.342

330 USDOS, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2019 - Pakistan, 11 March 2020, url, p. 30
331 USDOS, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2019 - Pakistan, 11 March 2020, url, p. 30
332 UNHCR, UNHCR Education Activities for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 10 February 2020, url, p. 1
333 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 23
334 UNHCR, Pakistan - Refugee Education Strategy (2020-2022), 10 February 2020, url, p. 3
335 Dawn, KP govt takes notice of objectionable content in curriculum of Afghan refugee schools, 23 January 2018, url
336 UNHCR, Education: Afghan refugees studying in refugee villages, 15 October 2018, url
337 Pajhwok Afghan News, 91 Afghan refugee teachers complete training, 17 October 2019, url
338 UNHCR and NRC, Breaking the Cycle: Education and the Future of Afghan Refugees - September 2015, 15 September

2015, url, p. 9
339 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 24
340 USDOS, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2019 - Pakistan, 11 March 2020, url, p. 30
341 UNHCR, DAFI Brochure, 18 October 2018, url, p. 1, p. 4; UNHCR, The Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee InitiativeDAFI in Pakistan, 8 August 2019, url
342 Nation (The), AIOU to provide education to Afghan refugees, 20 April 2020, url

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The study of ADSP mentioned that it is possible for ACC holders to have access to private schools,
colleges and universities. There are private education providers who admit ACC holders. Most of these
institutions are governed by Afghans and follow the Afghan curriculum.343
According to the study of ADSP unregistered Afghan refugees have ‘very limited access to education
services’. ADSP stated that it is possible for them to register in private education schools. However,private institutions are reluctant to give admission to unregistered Afghan refugees due to fear of
disciplinary measures from the Pakistan government.344

3.2 Employment
According to a Market Systems Analysis published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and
UNHCR in 2018, Afghan refugees are employed in a broad scope of professions. Two professions were
found more frequently where Afghan refugees work: mainly daily wage labour in construction andagricultural activities (as a labourer or a farmer).345 A study of CODE Pakistan in November 2019 statedthat a majority of the Afghans are concentrated in four specific industries: carpet-weaving, fresh fruits,
heavy machinery and honey beekeeping. Besides these four industries, Afghan refugees also take partin the working and business class community by setting up small- and large-scale businesses.346 ADSP
added in their study in December 2018 that a majority of these businesses are ‘unregistered or under
the proxy ownership of Pakistani friends and relatives’.347
Muhammad Tahir Khan confirmed in an interview with Cedoca on 14 February 2020 that PoR
cardholders and even ACC holders can set up a business in Pakistan.348 According to the newspaper
the News International, Afghan refugees face problems when establishing a business due to the factthat before February 2019 registered refugees were not able to open bank accounts (seeChapter 3.3.4 Financial and communications services). The News International stated further that
Afghans use the names of their employees for bank purposes and that they avoid large financialtransactions.349
In their 10 February 2020 Livelihood Strategy (2018-2021) UNHCR noted that Afghan refugees areconfronted with barriers such as low education and technical skills to access ‘high-level positions’ inthe employment market. Due to legal hurdles most of the Afghan refugees access the informal labour
market. The assessment of UNHCR stated that no Afghan refugees could be found working in the
public or private sectors due to the absence of a national identity card.350
According to different news portals, Afghan refugees in Peshawar in the province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa have set up businesses in the gem sector, the leather sector and in antiques andhandicrafts.351 Sayhoon News stated that for example 30 % of the businesses in Saddar Bazaar in
Peshawar are owned by Afghan refugees, while 80 % of businesses in the clothing market is set up by
Afghan refugees.352 There have been complaints in 2016 and 2017 from the Afghan refugeecommunity in Peshawar that for example the businesses in the gem sector and the antiques and

343 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 24
344 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 24
345 ILO and UNHCR, Market Systems Analysis for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 2018, url, p. 6
346 CODE Pakistan, Afghan refugees in Pakistan-The Road Ahead, November 2019, url, p. 42
347 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 28
348 Khan, T.M., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 14 February 2020
349 News International (The), Permission for bank accounts helps boost Afghan refugees’ businesses, 1 June 2019, url
350 UNHCR, Livelihood Strategy 2018-2021 Pakistan, 10 February 2020, url, p. 10351 Sayhoon News, Afghan craftsmen rule Peshawar's leather market, February 2020, url; Daily Times, Gemstones business

in Pakistan in doldrums as Afghan traders forced to repatriate, 4 October 2016, url; Express Tribune (The), Peshawar's
antiques and handicrafts business slumps with Afghan refugees' departure, 23 September 2017, url
352 Sayhoon News, Afghan craftsmen rule Peshawar's leather market, February 2020, url

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handicrafts deteriorated because of the repatriation policy of the Pakistani government and the tollof military operations in the region.353
According to the study of ADSP the PoR cardholders have a better opportunity to find work in theformal and informal sector than ACC holders and unregistered Afghan refugees. ACC holders andunregistered Afghan refugees mostly seek jobs in the informal sector.354
The newspaper Dawn reported in November 2019 that a petition was filed to address the regulationof activities of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The Peshawar High Court stated in its verdict that the
refugees ‘couldn’t be allowed to conduct businesses in the country without authorisation by therelevant quarters’. Dawn added that the Peshawar High Court has no jurisdiction and can only refer
the issue to the relevant federal authorities.355

3.3 Access to services
3.3.1 Access to documents
PoR cardholders have the possibility to make modifications to their PoR cards. The modifications canbe implemented at PCM centres. In these centres they can apply for the modification and replacementof existing cards; the registration of infants and children up to the age of five years; the issuance of
new cards to eligible children who are five years and older and the issuance of birth certificates tochildren under the age of 18.356 Documents concerning education such as school enrolment
certificates, school leaving certificates and results cards are issued to all PoR cardholders by UNHCR
or relevant schools.357
According to the study of ADSP the possibility for ACC holders to change the information on their ACCs
is ‘limited’. ADSP noted that private schools issue certificates to all their students including ACC
holders.358
Access to documents and services for documents is not available for unregistered Afghan refugees
according to the study of ADSP. But ADSP states that if UNHCR does not issue any education
documentation to them, ‘Pakistani schools may admit some unregistered Afghan students and may
also issue some documentation to them.’359
In June 2019, the News International cited an Afghan refugee who stated that it is not possible for
Afghan refugees to obtain a driving licence or to purchase a vehicle on their own name.360 Liaqat
Banori stated in an interview with Cedoca on 16 February 2020 that it is not possible for PoR
cardholders and ACC holders to obtain a driving licence.361
Frequently in the Pakistan media, reports have been made that Afghan refugees obtained a CNIC.362
According to the newspaper Dawn it is not legal to issue CNICs to Afghan nationals without proper

353 Daily Times, Gemstones business in Pakistan in doldrums as Afghan traders forced to repatriate, 4 October 2016, url;Express Tribune (The), Peshawar's antiques and handicrafts business slumps with Afghan refugees' departure, 23 September
2017, url
354 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 28
355 Dawn, PHC asks govt to restrict activities of Afghans, 30 November 2019, url
356 UNHCR, Afghans now able to update, modify identification in Pakistan, 10 November 2008, url; UNHCR, Pakistan- Afghan
Refugees PoR card Registration Update, Monthly Update (January 2020), 14 February 2020, url, p. 1
357 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 20
358 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 20
359 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 20
360 News International (The), Permission for bank accounts helps boost Afghan refugees’ businesses, 1 June 2019, url
361 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
362 Nation (The), NADRA yet to decide over 1,50,000 cases of blocked CNICs, 21 February 2020, url; Express Tribune (The),
Afghans obtained CNICs by fraud: NADRA chief, 3 September 2018, url

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documentation and procedures.363 In February 2015, the NADRA declared to the Guardian that it has
found 22 000 cards illegally held by Afghans.364 In May 2016, the Government of Pakistan ordered the
NADRA to re-verify the CNICs of all citizens in Pakistan. This decision was made after the NADRA
detected more cases of fraud following the disclosure that Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, a former Afghan
Taliban leader, was in the possession of a fraudulent CNIC.365 In July 2016, the News International
reported that through fraud and paying bribes thousands of Afghan families obtained CNICs.366 Dawn
reported in February 2015 that the NADRA issued CNICs to the Afghan refugee Sharbat Bibi (alsoknown as Sharbat Gula) and two men claiming to be her sons.367 Sharbat Bibi became ‘an instant icon’when she covered the June 1985 front page of National Geographic magazine as a 12-year-oldrefugee. She is often referred to as the Afghan girl with the green eyes.368 Dawn cited a source
employed at NADRA who stated that it is a common practice among Afghan refugees to list names of
non-relatives as their children to obtain documents.369 After a year of investigating the case of Sharbat
Bibi, she was arrested in October 2016.370 UNHCR stated a day after her arrest that Sharbat Bibi is nota registered Afghan refugee and therefore UNHCR was not able to assist her during her arrest.371
In September 2018, the newspaper the Express Tribune reported that the chairmen of NADRA statedthat there were Afghan nationals who obtained CNICs and that these cards were blocked. Theyobtained the cards by pretending they were family of Pakistani citizens.372 In February 2019, The
Nation stated that ‘the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has blocked
Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) of over 10,144 Pakistanis who registered themselves as
Afghan refugees.’373

3.3.2 Healthcare
Afghan nationals sought medical treatment across the border, mainly in Peshawar and Quetta, fordifferent reasons: accessibility, support of Afghan relatives and acquaintances based in Pakistan andbetter healthcare facilities.374 The Guardian reported in June 2019 that ‘visas for Pakistan weren’tstrictly enforced, but in recent years regulations – and borders – have tightened.’ In 2018, a total of
61 731 medical visas were issued by Pakistan’s embassy and consulates in Afghanistan.375
All Afghan refugees living in Pakistan (including PoR cardholders, ACC holders and unregistered
Afghans) have access to health services at hospitals. The study of ADSP remarked that health services
for unregistered Afghan refugees are ‘not as good as they are for PoR and ACC holders. They areprovided with consultations at health facilities. However, they must buy medicine from the market.’376
In January 2019, the Government of Pakistan announced its intention to improve health services for
Afghan refugees.377

363 Dawn, Pakistan issues CNIC to Nat Geo's famed 'Afghan Girl', 24 February 2015, url
364 Guardian (The), Afghan refugee on 1984 National Geographic cover embroiled in ID row, 26 February 2015, url
365 Express Tribune (The), NADRA to verify all CNICs within 6 months, 28 May 2016, url
366 News International (The), Thousands of Afghans packing up amid crackdown, 27 July 2016, url
367 Dawn, Pakistan issues CNIC to Nat Geo's famed 'Afghan Girl', 24 February 2015, url
368 National Geographic, Famed 'Afghan Girl' Finally Gets a Home, 12 December 2017, url
369 Dawn, Pakistan issues CNIC to Nat Geo's famed 'Afghan Girl', 24 February 2015, url
370 New York Times (The), ‘Afghan Girl’ in 1985 National Geographic Photo Is Arrested in Pakistan, 26 October 2016, url
371 Dawn, UNHCR distances itself from 'Afghan Girl' Sharbat Gula, 27 October 2016, url
372 Express Tribune (The), Afghans obtained CNICs by fraud: NADRA chief, 3 September 2018, url
373 Nation (The), NADRA blocks CNICs of Pakistanis registered as Afghan refugees, 12 February 2019, url
374 Dawn, Border regimes, regional conflict bar Afghans from seeking quality healthcare, 9 October 2018, url
375 Guardian (The), Patients sleep under the stars in long queue for medical visas, 12 June 2019, url
376 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 26
377 Pakistan Today, Government to improve health services for Afghan refugees, 5 January 2019, url

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Health services in ARVs are being provided by UN Agencies. In 2018, at the ARVs there are Basic Health
Units (BHU) present.378 The News cited in February 2020 an Afghan refugee living in an ARV near
Peshawar who stated that UNHCR reduced the facilities in the ARVs. He complained that the medical
facilities are not sufficient for the whole population of the ARV.379
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the Government of Pakistan announced on 5 April 2020 that they
will hand out a ‘special relief package’ to the Afghan refugees in the country.380

3.3.3 Housing, land and property
The study of ADSP stated the following: ‘Officially, no Afghan can buy or lease housing, land andproperty in Pakistan.’ PoR cardholders are in the possibility to rent houses, land and property forresidential and commercial purposes. The rent deed is signed by the owner (landlord) and an Afghan(tenant) with two local witnesses. The deed is described on a judicial stamp paper and registered at apolice station that processes it and returns it to the landlord. Since Afghans do not have a CNIC theycannot obtain the judicial stamp paper on which the rent deed is written. A widespread practice to
get the paper is to write the name of a Pakistani on the judicial papers.381
Noor Habib, an Afghan refugee living in Pakistan since 1979 and in possession of a PoR card, describedin an interview with Cedoca on 20 February 2020 that for the past six years it has become moredifficult for Afghan refugees (registered and unregistered) to rent a house in Peshawar. He described
the procedure as follows: as an Afghan refugee you have to talk with a real estate agent, then he gives
you a form which you have to fill in and you have to sign that in presence of a government official andyou need two Pakistanis who can bail you out (two CNICs have to be attached with the form) and thenyou have to go to the police station and answer questions.382
According to the study of ADSP Afghan refugees with an ACC ‘have the same rights as the PoR
cardholders concerning access to housing, land and property’.383
Unregistered Afghan refugees have no rights concerning housing, land and property.384 According toa study of Refugees in Towns in September 2019, for Afghans without a legal status this means thatthey have little access to formal housing and so they live in katchi abadis (informal settlements).385
According to ADSP, Afghan refugees are vulnerable for exploitation when trying to get access tohousing and property.386
According to Liaqat Banori when Afghan refugees live in urban settlements, they are mostly living inkatchi abadis (informal settlements). For example: in Islamabad, they are living in these side areas ofIslamabad where most of the settlements are broken down. It is not possible to have a good qualityof life there. The only difference between the refugee life in the camps and the urban settlements isthat refugees in camps are less harassed by the police and security institutions than people in theurban areas, according to Banori.387

378 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater Responsibility-

Sharing, 2 October 2018, url, pp. 38-39
379 News International (The), Afghan refugees complain of fewer facilities in camps, 18 February 2020, url
380 Anadolu Agency, COVID-19: Afghan refugees in dire need, says Pakistan, 5 April 2020, url
381 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 25
382 Habib, N., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
383 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 25
384 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 25
385 The Refugees in Towns Project (Ansari M.), Cities for Children A Case Study of Refugees in Towns Islamabad, Pakistan,
September 2019, url, p. 10, p. 13
386 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 25
387 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020

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3.3.4 Financial and communications services
The study of ADSP and the study of ILO and UNCHR mentioned that it is mandatory to be in possessionof documents (such as a national identity document, an alien registration paper or a valid visa of aparticular category) to open a bank account.388 On 25 February 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khanstated on Twitter that he ‘issued instructions today that Afghan refugees who are registered can open
bank accounts’.389 On 28 February 2019, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a statement sayingthat PoR cards would be accepted by the banks as a valid identity document in order to open a bankaccount. The SBP added that the biometric verification service for Afghan refugees holding PoR cards
would work in a similar way to the CNIC biometric verification system.390 The newspaper Dawn addedthat the registered Afghan refugees have to attach to their forms their utility bills and in some casesa reference or rent deed.391 According to a testimony of a PoR cardholder in Dawn, businesses andshops are often established in the name of a Pakistani friend with a CNIC, and the name of the
Pakistani friend is on the deed. This causes difficulties in case the Afghan refugees present a deed
which is not on their name but in the name of a Pakistani friend. 392 The Express Tribune stated that
before, Afghan refugees used to make use of informal banking channels to make financial transactions
within and outside Pakistan.393 The study of ADSP noted that ACC holders and unregistered Afghans
cannot open bank accounts or pay taxes in a direct manner, but they can receive remittances byshowing their passports or other identity documents.394
In 2015, in light of anti-terrorism measures, the Government of Pakistan demanded that mobile phoneusers registered their SIM cards in a national database. Telecom companies have been selling SIM
cards to subscribers if they were able to show their CNICs, but without obtaining fresh biometric data.
Since January 2015, each person is required to provide a CNIC in order to receive a SIM card. Also, it
is necessary to provide an electronic thumb impression which is checked in the NADRA biometric
database.395 In 2015, the Express Tribune stated that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority willverify the SIM cards used by Afghan refugees with a PoR card .396 Afghans in Pakistan can use their
SIM cards until the expiry date of their residence permit.397 In case of PoRcardholders they can get
access to SIM cards.398 ACC holders and unregistered Afghans cannot get SIM cards, so they opt forother solutions such as getting a SIM card on someone’s else name, borrow phones from an
acquaintance or use SIM cards issued by Afghan mobile phone companies based in Afghanistan,according to the study of ADSP.399
According to the own experience of Noor Habib, as stated to Cedoca in an interview on
20 February 2020, it is possible to obtain a SIM card with an Afghan passport and Pakistani visa or witha PoR card. If the visa on the passport is not valid anymore, the SIM card is blocked. Also, as regards
the PoR card, when the validity is expired the SIM card is blocked. After the extension of the PoR card

388 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 27; ILO and UNHCR, Market Systems Analysis for

Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 2018, url, p. 13
389 Khan, I., [Twitter], posted on: 25 February 2019, url
390 State Bank of Pakistan, BPRD Circular Letter No. 02 of 2019, 28 February 2019, url
391 Dawn, Bank accounts promise to Afghan refugees in Pakistan comes true, 5 June 2019, url
392 Dawn, Bank accounts promise to Afghan refugees in Pakistan comes true, 5 June 2019, url
393 Express Tribune (The), Bank account facility for refugees to aid economy, 1 March 2019, url
394 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 27
395 BBC News, Pakistan takes aim at Sim cards in anti-terror drive, 24 March 2015, url
396 Express Tribune (The), Plan ready: PTA to verify SIMs of Afghan refugees, 27 April 2015, url; Ary News, SIM verification
for foreigners, Afghans declared mandatory, 20 February 2020, url
397 Ary News, SIM verification for foreigners, Afghans declared mandatory, 20 February 2020, url
398 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 27
399 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 27

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and when a notification of the extension is provided, the Telecom company checks it and unblocks the
SIM card.400

3.3.5 Access to legal aid
According to the study of ADSP, access to legal aid depends on the legal status of the Afghan refugee,
the nature of the crime (civil/criminal) and the nationality of the perpetrator/victim of the crime.401
UNHCR assists PoR cardholders with free legal aid. At the end of January 2020, UNHCR together withSHARP and SEHER (partners of UNHCR in Pakistan) was providing legal assistance to PoR cardholders
through nine Advice and Legal Aid Centres (ALACs) in all four provinces.402 UNHCR, SHARP and SEHER
do not provide legal aid in criminal cases.403 Liaqat Banori, stated in an interview on 16 February 2020
during a fact-finding mission of Cedoca that SHARP is a registered organisation working for theprotection of refugees as a partner of UNHCR since 1999 and helps registered Afghan refugees withlegal issues related to harassment, documentation, property issues, family issues and financial issues
by legal assistance and through court representation.404
According to the report of ADSP, ACC holders and unregistered Afghan refugees have no access tolegal support neither from UNHCR nor from NGOs.405

3.4 Marriage
Article 10 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 provides that a foreign woman may acquire citizenshipthrough marriage to a Pakistani man (see Chapter 1.3.2 Citizenship).406 A foreign man cannot acquire
the citizenship of Pakistan on marrying a Pakistani woman.407 In an email to Cedoca on 3 April 2020,
Liaqat Banori clarified this further. Banori stated that there are many instances of intermarriages
among Pakistanis and Afghans. According to Pakistani law any woman marrying a Pakistani man can
get Pakistan nationality but if a Pakistani woman gets married to any foreigner, the man will not be
entitled for nationality. So, the Pakistanis who married Afghan girls are living peacefully and theirchildren also have Pakistani nationality on the basis of their father’s ID cards while Pakistani women
who married Afghans are facing issues not only for themselves but for their children too.408
The newspaper Dawn cited Farida Siddiqi, an Afghan refugee who in turn cited a NADRA official, whostated that ‘dozens of female Afghan refugees fake a marriage in order to get a CNIC.’409 In 2016, theGovernment of Pakistan announced its decision to repatriate the Afghan refugees which complicatedthe situation for Afghans married to Pakistanis. The NADRA also blocked the identity cards of Afghan
women who married Pakistani men.410
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) hundreds of Pakistani women married Afghan
men over the past four decades.411 Pakistani women married to Afghan men refused to accompany
their spouses when Pakistan insisted on returning to Afghanistan. They demanded the Government

400 Habib, N., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
401 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, pp. 21-23
402 UNHCR, Pakistan: Summary of Legal | Assistance and Aid Programme | January, 2020, 14 February 2020, url, p. 1
403 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 23
404 Banori, L., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 16 February 2020
405 ADSP, On the margins: Afghans in Pakistan, December 2018, url, p. 23
406 Pakistan, Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 [Pakistan], 13 April 1951, Art. 10 url
407 Nation (The), Why is a Pakistani woman’s citizenship still dependent on the verification of a ‘male guardian’?, 12

September 2016, url
408 Banori, L., email, 3 April 2020
409 Dawn, Pakistan’s stepchildren, 1 March 2017, url
410 News International (The), Pakistani men who married Afghan women seek rules relaxation, 24 October 2016, url
411 RFE/RL, Pakistani Wives Want Their Afghan Husbands Back, 16 November 2016, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 51

of Pakistan to give their husbands Pakistani nationality.412 In September 2016, Pakistani women in
Peshawar gathered and asked the authorities to allow their Afghan husbands to stay with them inPakistan.413 In January 2017, Khyber News TV stated that the Pakistani government was considering
giving a 'special legal status’ to those Afghan nationals who are married to Pakistani women.414

3.5 Cross-border movement
The newspaper the Nation stated in December 2013 that each day 56 000 people cross the border
into Pakistan, with more than 90 % originating from Afghanistan.415 A June 2017 survey reportpublished by IOM stated that 20 000 people per day cross the border at Torkham and 25 000 to 30 000
people per day cross the border at Chaman between the two countries.416 In April 2020, BBC News
stated that ‘for many years there has been illegal cross-border movement between Afghanistan andPakistan - those numbers are much harder to track.’417
Since 2001, Pakistan and Afghanistan have faced internal security threats, largely due to theunrestricted movement of militants across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.418 Pakistan has taken
measures to improve its control over the border such as fencing the border, closing the border ortightening rules at the border crossing for Afghans.419
Already in September 2005, the former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf proposed to theUnited States to fence a part of the border.420 According to the New York Times in March 2020, theconstruction of the fence ‘began in earnest’ in 2016.421 By mid-March 2020, 829 km of the 1 229 km(Durand Line in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in total: 2 640 km) - 84 % - has been fenced and 250 forts havebeen built alongside the fence.422
At the Durand Line three official border crossings are installed: Torkham, Spin Boldak (Chaman) andGhulam Khan.423 In addition to these border crossings, there are another 18 unofficial crossings (byvehicles) and around 235 crossings that can only be crossed on foot or by animal.424 On 1 June 2016,
Pakistan imposed new border rules at the Torkham border crossing in an attempt to prevent militants
crossing the border. The Pakistani government enacted stricter border control efforts at Torkham.425
At the Torkham border crossing, incoming Afghans without a valid passport, a visa or a rahdari426 wereno longer allowed to enter in Pakistan, and this rule is also implemented for members of the same
tribe who live across the border in Pakistan.427 At the crossing at Spin Boldak (Chaman), legal
documents were still not necessary, but border crossing rules were also tightened.428 According to
AAN, ‘people of Chaman district (Pakistan) and Spin Boldak district (Afghanistan) are provided with asimple document by the Pakistani government called a “border pass”. These passes are issued at the
412 Khyber News TV, Afghans married to Pakistani women to get special legal status, 20 January 2017, url
413 Dawn, Women seek Pakistani nationality for their Afghan spouses, 6 September 2016,

url

414 Khyber News TV, Afghans married to Pakistani women to get special legal status, 20 January 2017, url
415 Nation (The), Pakistan, Afghanistan Agree on Border Commission, 3 December 2013, url
416 IOM, Assessment of Incoming Afghan Nationals (Torkham Border), 29 June 2017, url, p. 1
417 BBC News, Coronavirus: The porous borders where the virus cannot be controlled, 9 April 2020, url
418 Khan, A., Pak-Afghan Border: A Case Study of Border Management, 10 October 2017, Quarterly Journal Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad, volume 37, number 3, Autumn 2017, url, p. 27
419 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
420 Guardian (The), US backs Pakistani-Afghan border fence, 14 September 2005, url
421 New York Times (The), Pakistan Builds Border Fence, Limiting Militants and Families Alike, 15 March 2020, url
422 Khan, R., The significance of Pak-Afghan border fencing, 16 March 2020, Cutting Edge, volume 15, issue 15, url
423 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
424 Borhan, O. and Muzhary, F.M., Jihadi Commuters: How the Taleban cross the Durand Line, 17 October 2017, url
425 Al Jazeera, Torkham restrictions stir Pakistan-Afghanistan tension, 1 June 2016, url
426 A rahdari is a card issued since 2015 to facilitate frequent cross border movement of Shinwari tribesmen; Dawn, Customs
agents, Afghan students to get new cards, 8 July 2017, url
427 IOM, Assessment of Incoming Afghan Nationals (Torkham Border), 29 June 2017, url, p. 1
428 IOM, Assessment of Incoming Afghan Nationals (Torkham Border), 29 June 2017, url, p. 1

52 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

border.’ This pass is valid for three months and renewable.429 The Ghulam Khan border point can becrossed by inhabitants of three Afghan south-eastern provinces with identity documents (tazkeras).430
On 27 June 2016, the newspaper The News cited the minister of SAFRON, who declared that thenational policy 2016-2017 for Afghan refugees was under review. According to the minister a ‘newtougher policy is ahead with new border management laws.’431 In February 2017, the Federal Cabinetof Pakistan adopted the Comprehensive Policy on Voluntary Repatriation and Management of Afghan
Nationals.432 According to the newspaper Dawn this included a stricter implementation of immigration
laws along the border with Afghanistan, requiring registered refugees give up their PoR cards before
going to Afghanistan and obtain visas to enter Pakistan again.433
The border crossings have been temporarily closed due to cross-border clashes. In March 2017, bordercrossings were closed due to multiple attacks at the border.434 On 5 May 2017, the border at Chaman(Spin Boldak) was closed and reopened at the end of May 2017.435 In October 2018, the border at
Chaman was closed for two days following a clash between security forces. The border was opened
for those crossing by foot but remained closed for commercial traffic.436 Ahead of the Afghanpresidential elections Pakistan announced that all border crossing with Afghanistan would be closed
on 27 and 28 September 2019 but reversed the decision and kept the border crossings open.437
Pakistan closed its borders to travellers from Afghanistan at the Chaman border from 2 until
21 March 2020 and later closed the border crossing at Torkham from 16 March 2020 for at least two
weeks due to the outbreak of COVID-19.438 The Government of Pakistan planned to open the borderfrom 6 April 2020 until 9 April 2020 to facilitate stranded nationals.439 According to UNHCR, thecrossings at Torkham and Chaman borders ‘were temporarily reopened’. UNHCR stated that ‘tens of
thousands of Afghan nationals crossed over to Afghanistan with very limited immigration control orrespect for social distancing.’440 Between 6 April and 9 April 2020, 57 Afghans with a PoR card wereallowed to cross the border according to official figures as mentioned by the Indo-Asian News
Service.441 On 13 April 2020, Pakistan announced that it extended the border closure for two more
weeks due to COVID-19.442
The measures that Pakistan has taken to manage the border has an impact on the Afghan refugee
population in the country. In February 2017, Al Jazeera cited an Afghan refugee who stated that due
to the restrictions taken in February 2017 it is more difficult to visit relatives across the border and tobury their deaths in Afghanistan.443 AAN described in an article the difficulties of Afghans crossing theborder with Pakistan. The article cited Afghans who crossed the border and stated that Pakistani police

429 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
430 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
431 News International (The), Policy for repatriation of Afghan refugees gets tougher, 27 June 2016, url
432 UNHCR, Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees: Enhancing Resilience and Co-Existence through Greater Responsibility-

Sharing, 2 October 2018, url, p. 13
433 Dawn, Strict implementation of immigration laws on Afghan border, 8 February 2017, url
434 BBC News, Pakistan PM orders Afghan border crossings to reopen, 20 March 2017, url
435 Al Jazeera, Pakistan-Afghanistan crossing closed after border clash, 6 May 2017, url; Dawn, Pakistan opens Chaman bordercrossing on 'humanitarian grounds' after 22 days, 27 May 2017, url
436 Express Tribune (The), Chaman border crossing reopens, 15 October 2018, url
437 RFE/RL, Pakistan Says Will Keep Afghan Border Crossings Open, 28 September 2019, url
438 News International (The), Coronavirus threat: Pak-Afghan border closed for 15 days, 16 March 2020, url; NewsInternational (The), Amid Coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan opens border with Afghanistan to permit flow of goods, 21 March
2020, url
439 Anadolu Agency, COVID-19: Pakistan to open border for stranded Afghans, 4 April 2020, url
440 UNHCR, COVID-19 External update, 20 April 2020, url, p. 1
441 Indo-Asian News Service, 20,000 Afghans cross Pak border in four days, DT Next, 11 April 2020, url
442 News International (The), Borders closure extended for two weeks, says interior ministry, 14 April 2020, url
443 Al Jazeera, Afghan refugees return home amid Pakistan crackdown, 27 February 2017, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 53

officers do no let people cross without proper documents. To cross the border, they often had to bribe
the officers.444
Khalid Khan Kheshgi explained in an interview with Cedoca that Afghan refugees visit their own
provinces inside Afghanistan. They visit their relatives and attend weddings or other events. For that
purpose, Afghan refugees who are not in the possession of documents are not using the official bordercrossings (for example: Torkham border crossing) but they cross the border with Afghanistan indifferent places (at unofficial crossings). Those Afghan refugees who have documents (for example:
Afghans refugees with a visa and passport), visit frequently their land (for farming) in Afghanistan.445
According to Noor Habib, there are millions of Afghan refugees who are in the possession of an Afghan
passport and a PoR card. He stated that Afghan refugees go back and forth to Afghanistan because ofdifferent reasons: there are a lot of problems with the land, there are marriages, deaths, theirdaughters get married there, a part of their family is there. He stated that the Afghan refugees
requested the Government of Pakistan for those who have PoR cards to make it possible to cross theborder and let them come back with the PoR cards. According to his own experience a Pakistani visa
is only valid for a month and not for six months as written in the Afghan passports and this means
Afghans have to go regularly back to Afghanistan to prolong the visa.446

444 Sabawoon, A.M., The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border, 28 January 2020, url
445 Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020
446 Habib, N., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20 February 2020

54 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Annex 1: Bibliography
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February 2020 and email on 3 April 2020. Liaqat Banori is the executive director of the Society for
Human Rights & Prisoners Aid (SHARP) in Islamabad.
Habib, N., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Peshawar, 20
February 2020. Noor Habib is an Afghan refugee based in Peshawar since 1979.
Khan Kheshgi, K., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium,
Peshawar, 20 February 2020. Khalid Khan Kheshgi is a staff reporter at the daily newspaper, The NewsInternational and reporter for Mashaal Radio.
Khan, T.M., interview during fact-finding mission conducted by CGRS/Cedoca Belgium, Islamabad, 14
February 2020. Muhammad Tahir Khan is a senior Pakistani journalist, specialised in the theme of
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EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT: PAKISTAN - SITUATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES — 55

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Annex 2: Terms of Reference
The terms of reference were drafted by Cedoca in consultation with EASO and the COI Specialist
Network on Pakistan.
The content of the report should contain information on the following topics:
General description of the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan (background information)•••

History
Demography and population size
Locations where the Afghan refugees are living

Description of the Afghan refugee population (registered and non-registered Afghan refugees)•••

Registered Afghan refugees (PoR-cardholders)
ACC holders
Unregistered Afghan refugees

Description of the livelihood situation
•
•
•
•
•

Possibility of education
Possibility of employment
Access to basic services: documents, health care, legal advice
Marriage
Movement across the border

Treatment by the state of Pakistan•••

The Government of Pakistan
The police
Freedom of movement

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doi: 10.2847/38898