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Stereotyping of Afghan refugees: very unfair : edit in Daily Times, June 23, 2016

In the middle of heightened tension between Pakistan and Afghan governments because of the clashes at Torkham border, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaz Aziz, called for the repatriation of Afghan refugees. Aziz blamed the refugees for providing terrorists “safe havens” in their camps, and also stressed on the need to block the porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As the Pakistan government has maintained that terrorists from Afghanistan allegedly funded by India engage in subversive activities on Pakistani soil, this latest statement can be viewed as reiteration of Pakistan’s stance that illegal Afghan border crossings must be stopped and strict border regulation must be enforced. While it is true that Afghan refugees must be gradually repatriated, and Pakistan should have greater control over the movement of people in its border with Afghanistan, the current turmoil must be used to reassess Pakistan’s policy in the region, and to avoid any such mistakes in the future.

The Afghan refugees in Pakistan are the result of the destruction in Afghanistan following the Afghan-Soviet war. During this war, Pakistan received massive military aid from the United States, which was used to arm and train Afghan Mujahideen so that they could fight the Soviets. This meant that following the Soviet war, different groups vying for power in Afghanistan got embroiled in a civil war, and the death and destruction that followed compelled hordes of people to migrate to Pakistan. Meanwhile, US aid to Pakistan stopped, and, as Pakistan claims, it was left “high and dry” to deal with all of this alone. However, this points to diplomatic failure on part of Pakistan to advance its case and gain sympathy in the international community. In any case, the Pakistan government should not have let all of these refugees to enter its territory if it did not have the wherewithal to support them. In absence of jobs and rehabilitation programmes, it is no surprise that some of these refugees brought with them violence and drugs, which threatened the social fabric of Pakistan. And in the present case, while it would be unfair to paint entire communities with a broad brush, these impoverished refugee camps would be susceptible to terrorist infiltration because they were tacitly accepted by the government but not given any support.

In light of all this, it becomes clear that refugees are not to be solely blamed for terrorism in Pakistan. These refugees were merely incidental to the greater game that was being played by various powers at the time. While various parties and individuals both in Pakistan and Afghanistan profited tremendously from all the money that came into the region, it did not occur to either the United States, which funded, supported, and planned the entire operation, or Pakistan, which carried it out, to help the displaced people of this war with long term support. It seems that Pakistan government just turned a blind eye to the Afghans entering its territory without any contingency plan. And as the government has finally undertaken the task of fencing its border with Afghanistan, it must keep in mind the flawed policies that led to this point. Hence, evading responsibility by pinning all the blame on refugee camps would only serve to impede the meaningful steps required for their gradual repatriation in a peaceful environment.http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/22-Jun-16/stereotyping-of-afghan-refugees-very-unfair

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