PESHAWAR: Death awaits you in Afghanistan, says refugee Mohammad Wali,insisting he prefers to endure a grim existence in a Pakistani camp thanreturn home and be killed.

Islamabad has increasingly put Afghan refugees in the crosshairs in recentweeks, claiming that militants hide in Pakistani camps and calling for allrefugees to be repatriated as part of a campaign to eliminate extremism.

But in Afghanistan, nearly four decades after the Soviet invasion sent thefirst refugees flowing over the border, the resurgent Taliban fight on,with civilians repeatedly caught in the carnage.[image: an image]

Days after a spate of deadly attacks killed more than 130 people, Wali,wearing a shabby coat, said a recent call to his family in the Afghancapital was filled with only dire news.

“They told me of terrible attacks and of the bombers blowing them up andnothing else,” the fruit seller said.

Pakistan hosts roughly 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, the UN says.A further 700,000 undocumented are also believed to be living in thecountry.

Pakistanis have long viewed them suspiciously, with police accused ofharassment and extortion along with arbitrary arrests.

“Even our caps were taken here (by police),” said Wali.

In recent weeks anti-refugee rhetoric by officials has heated up again,notably as they come under increased US pressure over militant safe havens.

“Pakistan has also been stressing the need of early repatriation of Afghanrefugees as their presence in Pakistan helps Afghan terrorists to melt andmorph among them,” the foreign ministry said, following a suspected USdrone strike in the tribal belt last month.

The official pressure coincides with a souring of public opinion towardrefugees, with some Pakistanis saying Afghans have overstayed their welcome.[image: an image]

“Enough is enough, we served them for 40 years, shared our houses andtreated them as guests,” said Peshawar resident Mehmood Khan.

The UN´s refugee agency has warned against any forcible or coercedrepatriations, insisting they be voluntary.

In late January, Pakistan extended a deadline by 60 days for refugeesholding proof of registration cards to leave its territory.

But as security in Afghanistan deteriorates further, refugees at anIslamabad camp said volunteers would be in short supply.´Nothing left´[image: an image]

Women carried buckets of water on their heads at the camp on the outskirtsof Islamabad as young children played cricket in the dust near mud brickhomes that lack electricity and clean water.

But none who spoke to AFP wanted to leave, all citing security and work asday labourers.

“There is nothing left in my homeland… only war and fighting,” said HajjiShahzada, 60, who came to Pakistan during the Soviet invasion four decadesago.[image: an image]

A recent report by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that seven out of 10Afghans who had returned after living as refugees abroad have beendisplaced twice, chased from place to place by the insurgency.

The findings should give nations hosting Afghan refugees pause, said NRCsecretary general Jan Egeland.

“Now is not the time to deport Afghans… It can destabilise the wholeregion and lead to immeasurable suffering,” he said in the report.[image: an image]

Often the refugees end up in major urban centres such as Kabul, competingfor scant resources.

Kabul, straining to manage its expanding population and feeble economy, hasfailed to help them, says Sher Agha, a representative for the refugees inIslamabad.

“Providing jobs and employment is another issue, but at the very least theyneed shelter,” he told AFP.´Better to live´[image: an image]

The conditions are so bleak that “many” returnees are sneaking back acrossthe porous border and quietly taking up their lives in Pakistan, multiplerefugees told AFP.

Abdul Malik was born an Afghan refugee in northwest Pakistan, living therefor more than 40 years. But in 2016 he repatriated with his Pakistani wifeand children.[image: an image]

They settled in a village near Jalalabad, in eastern Nangarhar province,where the Taliban and the Islamic State group have been waging a turf war.

“It was the most unpleasant experience of my life,” Malik, wrapped in atraditional Pashtun shawl, told AFP during an interview in Peshawar.

The water was contaminated, the air was polluted, there were no doctors, noclinics, no employment, nothing but “bad roads and difficult conditions”,he said — along with the constant fear of a brutal death at the hands ofmilitants.[image: an image]

He lasted three months before sneaking back into Pakistan — as many otherAfghan families who could afford the journey have done.

Wali, who spoke to AFP at the Islamabad camp, said he would rather endureuncertainty in a country that does not want him than return home.

“Better to live here even if we face hunger and thirst,” he explains.

“At least we will not die.” – AFP