Afghan diplomat says over one million refugees cannot be sent back home in one month timeElders reject govt’s Jan 31 deadline; demand time to sort out business matters with localsISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Afghanistan has pressed Pakistan to grant up to a one-year extension of the stay of over one million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Afghan diplomats said on Monday. The demand came days after the federal cabinet decided to grant only one-month extension to the stay of nearly 1.4 million registered refugees in Pakistan. In its January 3 meeting, the cabinet granted the extension in the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards that allow registered refugees to stay legally in the country. The PoR cards expired on December 31, 2017 and under the cabinet’s new decision the registered Afghan refugees can legally stay in Pakistan until January 31. Afghanistan Deputy Ambassador to Pakistan Zardasht Shams said that over one million refugees cannot be sent back home in one month time.

Source: Pakistan Today January 08, 2018 17:03 UTC