More than 200,000 unregistered Afghans have voluntarily repatriated from Pakistan with the assistance of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) by the deadline of April 15 set by the Pakistan government, officials said. A six-week grace period was given to Afghans, who had not taken part in the registration exercise of October 2006 to February 2007 and thus did not have the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, to avail this opportunity with an enhanced return package of $ 100. There is no extension in the deadline. Officials said Pakistan has already announced that Afghans living without the PoR cards will be considered as illegal and subjected to Pakistani laws including the application of the Foreigner s Act against them. The total figure of 205,997 Afghans that left Pakistan in six weeks included 168,395 from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP); 31,390 from Balochistan; 3,941 from Punjab and 2,271 from Sindh.
