Afghan Warrior

The government of Pakistan recently announced Afghan refugees living
in their capital city, Islamabad, as well as the nearby Rawalpindi
city, will all be moved to camps in Pakistan or repatriated back to
Afghanistan because of security concerns. According to Pakistani
sources over 100,000 Afghan refugees have been living in the twin
cities of Islamabad and and Rawalpindi Despite hundreds of thousands
of Afghan refugees having returned home, still some 3 milion Afghans
are living in Pakistan. According to Pakistani interior ministry
officials, these refugee camps provide easy shelter for criminals like
robbers and terrorists, so the refugees living in those two cities
will be shifted to other camps elsewhere in Pakistan, or sent back to
their homeland under the assistance of the United Nations High
Commission for refugees.

A UN spoksman on Friday said Pakistan had decided to shut down all the
Afghan refugee camps in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and also from the
country's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, by August 31. He added
that approximately 105,000 refugees will be sent back to Afghanistan
with the closure of all 32 camps located in the tribal region. The
spoksman said that Pakistan's government cited security reasons for
the closure of these camps. Afghan embassador Nangiali Tarzai, in a
meeting with Pakistani interior minister Aftab Shirpao, requested them
not to repatriate Afghans living in Islamabad and other areas. He also
urged Pakistan to consult with the U.N. and repatriate the
refugees voluntarily under the agreement signed between Pakistan,
Afghanistan and the UNHCR three years ago

Milions of Afghans immigrated to Pakistan after the Soviet invasion
and during civil war, and many of them settled in camps scatterered
across Pakistan. After the U.S. military operation ousted the Taliban
regime from power in late 2001, almost 3 milions of Afghan refugees
have been returned home.

Many Afghan refugees are against the pakistan goverment's decision and
they are not ready to come back to Afghanistan. The current situation
is bad because there are no shelter facilities for refugees in
Afghanistan so it is really hard for them to afford living in
Afghanistan. But according to some eyewitnesses, the Pakistani police
harass Afghan refugees, and sometimes take money from them, according
to some refugees who recently came back to Afghanistan. Many Afghan
refugees would love repatriate back to their homeland but in a time
when they are ready.

In the current situation they are not ready to come back. The
government of Pakistan should not force Afghan refugees to leave
Pakistan it is against the agreements that were signed three years ago
between Pakistan, Afghanistan and U.N. Under that agreement the
government of Pakistan agreed that the repatriation would be voluntary
and Afghan refugees would not be forced to repatriate, but recent
decisions of the Pakistan government go against the agreement. There
is still year lelft before the agreement expires, and Afghans never
involved in any crime in Pakistan are being targeted.

Meanwhile many Pakistani criminals cross the border and fight against
the Afghan government and coalition forces. Yet Afghan refugees are
being force to leave Pakistan.

Every Afghan dreams to come back to their homland. We hope the
government of Pakistan change its decision and gives more time to
refugees so they can voluntarily come back to their country in a more
reasonable time frame.