Registration of illegal Afghan nationals in Pakistan would start from July 25 and will be completed in a period of about six months.
The registration will be carried out through the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) with the cooperation of Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, Afghan Commission and Afghan Ministry responsible for the refugees’ return. The cost is believed to be around Rs 500 million.
According to reliable sources there are about one million Afghans staying illegally in Pakistan. In addition thousands of others are still penetrating the border through on a daily basis.
Officials at the crossing points at Chaman and Torkham say that the number of people coming from Afghanistan is more than those crossing to the Afghan side of the border.
The sources said that NADRA would establish 21 registration centres including 11 in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa where most of the Afghan refugees are living. Of these four would be set up in Peshawar, and one each in Nowshera, Haripur, Mansehra, Kohat, Hangu, Mardan and Dir. Locations for these centres have been identified.
After registration and verification every Afghan family would get an Afghan citizen certificate which would be issued after 40 days of registration. These cards would give a legal temporary stay status to the illegal Afghans.
Officials said that this would be the last chance for the Afghans to get themselves registered and those failing to do so would be dealt with under the foreigners act.
