KABUL (PAN): About 100,000 refugees have come back to the country over the last six months, indicating a 50 per cent drop in expected voluntary returns.

Based on a joint plan of the UNHCR and Afghan Refugees and Returnees Ministry, about 240,000 Afghans were to return home in the first six months of the current year.

According to UNHCR officials, 50,000 refugees returned from Pakistan and 30,000 from Iran while the rest were repatriated from other countries.

Muhammad Omar Ayar, deputy minister for refugees, said the 100,000 people who returned voluntarily were settled in their respective provinces. He added the returnees were given a transportation cost of $100 and new habitats by UNHCR.

Insecurity, lack of job opportunities and poverty were key hurdles to the return of refugees, the deputy minister pointed out.

UNHCR spokesman Muhammad Nader Farhad revealed refugee repatriation centres in Pakistan had suspended their activities for the last two months for several reasons including insecurity.

He said the repatriation process should have continued until October 2009, but was suspended prematurely due to insecurity. UNHCR officials estimate at 1.7 million the refugees based in Pakistan while a million are living in Iran.

mnm/mud