Amongst others, one of the main reasons of terrorism in Pakistan is the unprecedented influx of four million Afghan refugees that began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. After the US invasion of Afghanistan, many more Afghan refugees crossed over into Pakistan as they had racial and ethnic affinities with tribes straddling the Durand Line.
Most of the Afghan refugees are simple and religious-minded people, however, some of them were found involved in illegal activities and quite a few of them provided active support to extremist tendencies.
The foreigners of various nationalities like Uzbek, Chechen, Afghan, Yemeni and Arab found safe havens in the tribal areas and made sanctuaries through the courtesy of Afghan refugees. These extremist foreigners targeted young impressionable minds to indoctrinate to be used against security forces. Fresh brigades of suicide bombers have been continuously prepared that killed almost 5,000 security personnel and 50,000 Pakistani victims.
To defeat Taliban, it is necessary to dismantle its core – the “leadership in the tribal regions of Pakistan” and prevent its ability to re-establish a safe haven in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. In 2009, Pakistan embarked upon a strategy for the repatriation of Afghan refugees on a voluntary basis.
Registration findings show that a majority of Afghans live in Khyber (KP) Pakhtunkhawa (64 percent) and Balochistan (21 percent). Afghans constitute six percent of KP’s total population and 5.9 percent in Balochistan. It was also found that 84 per cent do not intend to return.
In order to get rid of the region from religious extremists, safe return of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan is absolutely important. Following measures will help eradicate terrorism from the country: (a) a complete record of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan should be maintained. (b) Afghan government must plan for the absorption of refugees from Pakistan.
DR SAJID NAWAZ GHUMMAN
Gujranwala