By IPS Correspondents
PESHAWAR, Aug 15 2002 (IPS)

An Afghan refugee tried to set himself ablaze at a refugee repatriation centre in Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad earlier this month, supposedly after his appeal for assistance to return home was rejected as fraudulent because he had already been given aid.

The incident reflects not just the desperation some refugees feel to return to their homeland, but a growing problem in the voluntary repatriation process under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Ensuring that assistance packages go to genuine returnees has been a Herculean task since March, when the seasonal repatriation process got underway, UNHCR staff members admit.

In a sense, these problems came with the success of the repatriation process, which U.N. officials say peaked in April to June in what they claim to be the fastest voluntary refugee influx in the history of mankind.

By end-July, over a million refugees had returned from neighbouring countries, the bulk from Pakistan.

But this exodus brought other problems as well. As of Jul. 25, repatriation staff say they have rejected 53,592 families throughout Pakistan that they suspected of making bogus claims.

Official sources also estimate that some 230,000 ‘recycled refugees’ — who have benefited from U.N. repatriation packages and went to Afghanistan, some with the hope of getting second payments — have returned to Pakistan illegally, to disappear in rural and urban areas of the country.

But beyond just being a bureaucratic problem, this trend highlights the difficulty of life in Afghanistan, which prompts refugees who have returned to their homeland – and have received U.N. assistance — to head back again to neighbouring Pakistan.

“Life is difficult in Kabul. Everybody is going to Kabul and there are no houses,” says Mohammad Khalid, an Afghan who runs an auto spare parts business here in Peshawar.

“It will take some time before stability comes there. Things will improve when people start moving to other urban centres of Afghanistan,” he adds.

Khalid had himself returned to Kabul – though not through the U.N. process – to explore the possibilities of setting up business there.

His hopes for a normal life were buoyed by the Loya Jirga (a traditional decision-making assembly) meeting in June that affirmed the rule of the interim government, but he lasted all of two weeks in his own country.

As many Afghans realise that returning home is not a simple task – its infrastructure is far from ready to receive all of its refugees back – the number of returnees has started to decrease.

The refugee agency closed down one of three repatriation centres in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the capital of which is Peshawar, and reduced the working time of others.

But rather than signify a return to stability for tens of thousands of families scattered across the region and a lessening of the refugee burden for Pakistan, the slowing of the repatriation effort is a worrying trend, say refugee relief workers and Pakistan officials.

The return of refugees stretched the public infrastructure in Kabul, and demand for housing, food, basic services, education and jobs grew. Disillusionment came in and many returnees began to flow out again, many heading across the Khyber Pass into Peshawar.

Increasingly, it is clear that the only way returning refugees will stay on in Afghanistan is if reconstruction picks up — and spreads beyond Kabul.

Many Afghans in Peshawar, apart from having acquired property, are increasingly hesitant to go back because of reports of clashes among warlords and violent incidents like the assassination of key officials.

Kabul had drawn a lot of returnees because it had gained a measure of security with the presence of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

But of late, relief agencies have been demanding that the U.N. Security Council allow international forces into other areas of Afghanistan to help development efforts, ease the pressure on Kabul – and make them more ready for returning Afghans.

U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs Kieran Prendergast has already warned that Afghanistan’s fragile peace process could be threatened if ISAF is not deployed to other cities.

But for now, Pakistani government officials are worried about an immediate problem: Returning Afghan refugees have begun to sneak back into Pakistan through unfrequented routes along the porous border.

An official of the Afghan Commissionerate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the United Nations is expecting the number of Afghans coming back to Pakistan to rise in next few months.

“We know from past experience that many refugees return to their country in summer, but come back to Pakistan as soon as winter sets in,” he said. In some parts of Afghanistan, winter is a harsh reality, so Pakistan becomes a welcome refuge.

If the flow of Afghans back into Pakistan rises to the hundreds of thousands, relief agencies warn of a serious humanitarian crisis in coming months if not enough assistance comes before the onset of winter.

“If the international community does not get its act together soonest, we are on the threshold of a major humanitarian crisis. The incredible influx of refugees is stretching everybody beyond their resources. It is a very dramatic situation,” UNHCR spokesperson Ragnmila Ek said.

The situation is made more complicated by the fact that Pakistan is relieved to have seen the exodus of Afghan refugees – which numbered 2.3 million at their peak — and does not relish the idea of having them back.

Even before the U.S. military action in Afghanistan in October, Islamabad had already wanted to close down the refugee camps.

Since the U.S.-led attacks and the Taliban’s ouster in November, Pakistan has beefed up security along the border. Islamabad closed its borders to Afghan refugees once it sensed that some normalcy had returned to Afghanistan.

“Now that stability has returned and a government has been set up in Kabul the Afghans should return to take part in reconstruction,” officials here have repeatedly stated.

For its part, the UNHCR is trying to tighten verification measures for returning refugees to prevent the ‘recycling’ of returnees.

U.N. officials interview different members of returning families. Only those leaving Pakistan with their families and household items are being registered for repatriation and considered eligible for assistance.

Officials also give the repatriation assistance only after families have reached the Afghan side of the border. Returnees are also required to demolish their mud houses in refugee camps before boarding the trucks that take them home.

Excerpt: