AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Census extended

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

QUETTA, 1 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - A countrywide 10-day census of the Afghan population living in Pakistan, which got under way last Wednesday, is expected to extend for another couple of days as bad weather conditions have hampered the operation in the southwestern province of Balochistan, officials told IRIN on Tuesday.

"Hopefully, we will complete [on time] in most areas of Balochistan [province]. But in some parts of the northern districts of Ziarat and Pishin, we may have to extend for another couple of days as the roads are not passable due to snow," Waqar Ali, provincial head of the Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR), told IRIN in Quetta, the provincial capital.

The bad weather caused a five-day delay to counting in Balochistan, which only got under way in Quetta on Sunday amid light rain.

Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghans fleeing conflict in their country for over a quarter of a century. But there has never been any comprehensive registration for those Afghan nationals arriving in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion in December 1979.

In January, the government of Pakistan and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed to
conduct a census and record vital information about the Afghan
population. The counting exercise covers all the Afghans residing in Pakistan, excluding those who arrived before December 1979 and who hold Pakistani national identity cards (NICs).

About 2,600 enumerators and 300 supervisors from the Pakistan Census Organisation (PCO) have been participating in the census in all four provinces of the country, federally administered tribal and northern areas and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"As for as the response of Afghans is concerned, they certainly have their own fears and apprehensions. But we have made it very clear that this census is only to get their figures and analytical profiles to formulate further policies beyond March 2006 after the tripartite agreement expires," Ali noted.

The UN refugee agency has assisted some 2.3 million Afghans to voluntary repatriate since 2002 under the tripartite agreement between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR that runs until March 2006.

In an effort to demonstrate the importance of taking part in the census, UNHCR has run a wide publicity campaign in recent months, including ads on Pashto TV, radio programmes in Quetta and Peshawar and ads in Pashto newspapers.

"I know this [census] is not to expel us forcefully, but this will be helpful to remove problems hindering our return to Afghanistan, like issues of security, livelihood, and shelter," Mamoor Zalmay, a 50-year-old Afghan living in a slum area of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, told IRIN.

Like thousands of other Afghans, Zalmay has been living in this slum since 1982 earning his livelihood by working in the nearby vegetable and fruit market of Islamabad.

Census officials have been recording the number and profile of Afghans, including details of their arrival, their place of origin in Afghanistan, where they are living now, current livelihood, as well as their intention to repatriate.

UNHCR expects the first results of the survey to be available by the end of March.

[ENDS]