ISLAMABAD: Around 891,918 undocumented Afghan refugees have been registered by the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) through the new Afghan refugees’ registration policy which was launched on August 16, last year.
The International Organization of Migration, which assists and monitors the movement of migrants across the world, reported that 248,189 undocumented Afghan nationals had returned or were deported from Pakistan in 2016.
An official of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) on Tuesday said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was looking after the process of registration.
He said that in this regard 21 registration centres had been established in different parts of the country.
The country has some 1.5 million registered refugees, one of the largest such populations in the world, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). More than a million others are estimated to live in the country unregistered.
The government is issuing Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) to them after their registration that will legalise their stay in Pakistan for an indefinite period without getting refugee status.