Over 6,446 registered Afghans refugees repatriated this year: UNHCR

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ISLAMABAD: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had so far facilitated the repatriation of over 6,446 registered Afghan refugees form Pakistan during this year.

An official source told APP here on Monday that from January 1 to June 4, 2016 over 6,446 Afghan refugees were repatriated through voluntarily repatriation centers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3653, Balochistan 1551, Sindh 430, Punjab 763, Islamabad 40 and Azad Kashmir 9.

Commenting on the projects initiated by Refugees Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA), he said over 10.6 million people, including Afghan refugees and Pakistani nationals, benefitted from projects since their launch in 2009.

The RAHA has completed over 300 projects in different districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan with the cost of $175 million.

These projects are facilitating people especially in health, education, infrastructure and livelihood sectors, the UN commissioner said, adding the key objective of these programmes was to create cohesion between Afghan refugees and their host communities.