ISLAMABAD: Amid the coronavirus epidemic, Minister for States and Frontier Areas (Safron) Shehryar Khan Afridi drew the eye of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in direction of Afghan refugees, urging the world physique in a letter to speed up its reduction efforts and supply meals rations to the Afghan refugees residing throughout Pakistan.
Pakistan is among the many nations which can be internet hosting giant numbers of refugees. In response to estimates, there are round 3.5 million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, about 1.8m of whom are registered and 0.8m maintain Proof of Registration playing cards.
The minister together with cricket celebrity Shahid Afridi visited an Afghan refugee camp within the metropolis of Kohat, 150km southwest of Islamabad, the place they oversaw the distribution of ration, offered by the cricket star’s eponymous charity organisation, to almost one thousand refugee households impacted by the continuing lockdown.
“The Afghan refugees are our brothers and Pakistanis stand side by side with Afghan families in these testing times. The Afghan brothers should not be forgotten in these difficult times,” Mr Shahid tweeted in Urdu from his Twitter account.
In response to a press launch by the UNHCR, it has began dispatching core reduction objects to assist Pakistan authorities’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Distributes ration to 1,000 Afghan households with Shahid Afridi
The required reduction objects embody “medical supplies and sanitation products such as sanitary clothes, soap and disinfectants”. This stuff “will be provided to health facilities in support of refugees and host communities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab”, stated the assertion.
4 vehicles carrying a number of the many objects left from UNHCR’s central warehouse in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and a few destined to Balochistan. Extra objects are scheduled to be delivered subsequent week.
“UNHCR is committed to supporting the government’s Covid-19 prevention and response measures,” stated Iain Corridor, UNHCR Deputy Consultant in Pakistan.
“The UNHCR’s priority is to contribute to the overall effort to minimise the spread and impact of the virus,” he added additional.
The company dedicated to supply medical provides and consumables together with private protecting gear (PPE), which “will be delivered to support the people of Pakistan and the Afghan refugees that they have so generously hosted for forty years”, he stated.
The Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (Ministry of Safron) and UNHCR’s NGO companions are amplifying the federal government’s messages and reminders primarily based on WHO steerage on Covid-19 an infection prevention and management, together with self-hygiene and social distancing, based on a press release.
The Refugee Rights Community Pakistan (RRN) has additionally appreciated the efforts by Minister Safron Mr Shehryar and Mr Shahid’s basis for serving to the Afghan refugees in testing occasions.
“RRN Pakistan extends its gratitude to the minister and federal government for all its commitment for care and protection of Afghan refugees in Pakistan,” the assertion stated.
Printed in Daybreak, March 29th, 2020
