Pakistan in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency has commenced the issuance of renewed Proof of Registration (PoR) cards to more than 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees.
The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) launched a countrywide project at the inaugural ceremony in Haripur on Tuesday. The renewed PoR cards will be issued through 34 PoR card renewal centres across the country, starting with six centres in Haripur, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Quetta followed by more centres to open in March, April and May.
The existing PoR cards held by Afghan refugees expired in December, 2012. In July, 2013, the government through its Federal Cabinet decision, announced the extension of the Tripartite Commission Agreement governing the voluntary return of Afghans and the validity of the PoR cards until the end of 2015.
The PoR card renewal exercise is a result of continuous consultation between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR aimed at finding durable solutions for Afghan refugees, which constitute the world’s largest protracted refugee population in a single country.
The renewal process will be carried out in two phases. During the first phase from February until the end of June, 2014, all PoR cards that expired in December, 2012 will be replaced by new PoR cards. In the second phase from July until the end of 2014, NADRA will register and issue individual PoR cards to some 150,000 children born to registered parents in the past five years and more than 330,000 Afghan children below the age of eighteen will receive birth certificates.
