PESHAWAR: The voluntary repatriation process for Afghan refugees resumed here on Thursday after a three-month winter break. Over 1.4 million registered refugees have the option to go back to their homeland.

The process resumed at the Voluntary Repatriation Centre at Azakhel, in Nowshera district. One Afghan family who approached the centre was processed and soon left for Afghanistan.

Officials of the Afghan Consulate, Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees and staff of the UN refugee agency were present at the centre to help returnees.

The UN refugee agency said in a statement issued on Thursday that the process had been suspended for winter in the light of an agreement among Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UNHCR.

It said that UNHCR would help repatriation from voluntary repatriation centres at Azakhel, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baleli, Balochistan.

Refugees having Proof of Registration (PoR) cards would be facilitated at these two centres.

The government has given a two-month deadline to all Afghan refugees to go back to their country by the end of March.

All PoR card holders would lose their legal status after the expiry of the deadline.

The statement said that Pakistan continued to host 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees who were holding Proof of Registration cards.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2018