KANDAHAR CITY - Above 4,4,00 Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan through Spin Boldak border crossing in southern Kandahar province since the beginning of the year, an official says.
A total of 4470 refugees returned through Spin Boldak and 721 of them who had legal documents were assisted by UNHCR, said Kandahar Refugee Department director Mohammad Rahim Rahimi at a press conference yesterday.
He said 3479 refugee families who returned from Pakistani this solar year lacked legal credentials and they were assisted by the International Organization of Migration.
He said the refugee department was responsible to provide shelter to the returning families, but this job had not been done so far.
He said land plots for construction of townships for refugees had been demarcated in two districts of Kandahar province --- Panjwai and Daman. He said maps and other related works had been done, but the process to distribute the land was yet to be initiated, awaiting a presidential decree in this regard.
He said the Kandahar refugee department was all poised to distribute 1076 land plots to refugee families in Panjwai district.
Rahimi said the Panjwai township was not enough and a second township would be built for the refugee and returnee families in Daman district. He said 3000 acres of land had been allocated to the township in Daman district and the plots would be distributed to deserving families once a presidential order was issued in this regard.
He said a number of international donor organizations had promised assistance with the refugee families in building their homes under a program called “Shelter” which would commence once plots were distributed to the refugee and returnee families.
About internally displaced persons in Kandahar, he said, the province was currently hosting nearly 30,000 families who had been displaced from districts and neighboring provinces.

He said they had been able so far to provide food and non-food items to 20,500 displaced families with the help of aid giving organizations. (Pajhwok)