More than 136,000 Afghans, living in Pakistan, have so far been registered in the largest-scale registration conducted by the government of Pakistan and the UN refugee agency, officials said. Since the start of the registration of Afghans in Pakistan on October 15, more than 136,000 Afghans have been registered in Pakistan, including over 60,000 in North West Frontier Province, more than 33,000 in Balochistan, some 22,000 in Punjab, over 16,000 in Sindh and more than 3,300 in Azad Kashmir. Women constitute about half (48 percent) of those registered so far, as do children below the age of 14 years (50 percent). The pace of registration is picking up after a slow start. Officials urged more Afghans to come forward for registration before the exercise ends on December 31. This is not a registration to deport or exclusively repatriate Afghans. The exercise will gather information and seek to provide a much awaited solution to their protracted situation. Secretary of the Ministry of SAFRON, Sajid Hussain Chattha said that registration was important for the management of the Afghan population in Pakistan, which includes sustainable repatriation and reintegration in Afghanistan. Afghans counted in the 2005 census can only register after having their names checked against the census database. The registration exercise is a follow-up to the 2005 census of Afghans in Pakistan.
