IRIN
PAKISTAN: Preparation for Afghan census underway
17 February 2005


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

ISLAMABAD, 17 February (IRIN) - In preparation for a full-scale census 
of Afghans living in the country, the Pakistan Census Organisation 
(PCO), in collaboration with the office of the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), conducted a pilot census earlier this 
week across the four provinces of the country.

"The exercise was basically to check the operational procedures and make 
the enumerators prepared to deal with any particular condition," 
Jehangir Khan, head of the Commission for Afghan Refugees (CAR), told 
IRIN in the capital, Islamabad. "We've come across certain problems 
during the pilot census, which we have discussed with the UNHCR 
officials and hopefully tomorrow we'll finalise the recommendations."

In January, the government of Pakistan and the UNHCR agreed to conduct a 
census and record vital information about all Afghan refugees in 
Pakistan arriving after December 1979. The census would record the 
number and profiles of Afghans, including details of their arrival, 
their place of origin, where they are living now, current livelihood, as 
well as their intention to repatriate.

The test exercise was conducted by the PCO census teams in the four 
selected districts of Karachi, Sialkot, Pishin and Peshawar. UNHCR teams 
monitored all stages of the process to ensure that agreed procedures 
were followed by the PCO enumerators.

"The pilot tests were also to check the full range of housing areas that 
have been identified during two months of mapping of concentrations of 
Afghan population throughout Pakistan - in camps, rural areas and urban 
centres," Jack Redden, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told IRIN 
in Islamabad.

Since 2002, UNHCR has assisted 2.3 million Afghans to voluntarily 
repatriate under the tripartite agreement between the governments of 
Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR that runs until March 2006.

UNHCR has been undertaking several promotional activities to ensure that 
Afghans are aware of the importance of participating in the census.

"We are airing the advertisements on Khyber TV - the only Pashto channel 
in the world and popular among Afghans. We are advertising in about four 
Pashto newspapers of Karachi and Peshawar. Besides, a 15-minute radio 
programme is also being aired on Radio Pakistan from Quetta and 
Peshawar," Redden noted.

The UNHCR official further added that the refugee agency had already 
distributed thousands of information leaflets, posters and banners 
amongst the Afghan community, encouraging their participation in the 
census.

The data collected by the census teams would be entered into a database 
and the first results would be available for detailed analysis by the 
second half of March. Accordingly, the information would help the 
government of Pakistan and the UNHCR to develop future policies for 
Afghan refugees living in the South Asian nation after the tripartite 
agreement expires next year.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting in Brussels this week, arranged by the 
UNHCR and the European Commission, stressed the continuing problems 
facing displaced Afghans in Pakistan and Iran. The UNHCR head, Rudd 
Lubbers, on Wednesday urged Islamabad and Tehran to take a "more relaxed 
attitude" towards their Afghan populations and look at them as 
productive migrant workers as many may decide against returning home.


IRIN-WA
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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