UN chief arrives in Islamabad for forum on Afghan refugees

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Islamabad on Sunday as part of his three-day visit to the country to attend an international conference on Afghan refugees which is being hosted by Pakistan.

The two-day event, from February 17 to 18, will mark four decades since the refugees first moved to Pakistan to escape a decades-old conflict plaguing neighboring Afghanistan.

“This is his first visit to Pakistan as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has visited the country few times in the past as well, including as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) said in a statement released on Sunday.

Guterres arrived at the Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi on Sunday where he was received by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Munir Akram, and other senior officers from the Foreign Office (FO) and the UN, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said in a separate statement.

“The secretary general will participate in an International Conference on 40 Years of Hosting Afghan Refugees in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity and will deliver a keynote address,” excerpts from the UNIC’s statement added.

Guterres is expected to hold talks with President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan, in addition to meeting Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and other parliamentarians, wherein the Pakistani leadership will share their “perspective on all aspects of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”

According to the UNIC, Guterres will deliver special talks on sustainable development, climate change, Youth, UN75 and UN peacekeeping, too.

“He will then travel to Lahore and the Gurdwara Kartarpur Saheb [a Sikh religious site], and will also take part in cultural, youth and polio immunization activities,” the UNIC’s statement said.

Kartarpur Gurdwara is a visa-free initiative launched by Pakistan and India to connect Sikhs in either country. It is one the most revered sites for followers of the religion and was inaugurated by PM Khan in November last year.

PM Khan will also be inauguratung the Afghan refugees’ conference tomorrow which is expected to see the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and ministers and senior officials from around 20 countries “who have been supporting the Afghan refugees across the globe and in Pakistan” in attendance, too, the FO said in a statement last week.

It added that besides providing an opportunity to highlight the exemplary compassion, generosity and hospitality extended by Pakistan – in hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world – the conference will also seek to identify key developments and milestones related to the refugee crisis; reflect on the lessons learnt; identify challenges; and discuss solutions for a voluntary, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the refugees to Afghanistan.

“It will also help in building a positive narrative on refugees, especially at a time when borders are being closed on them and millions are being made stateless under nationalistic and ideological pretenses,” the statement added.

At present, Pakistan is host to nearly 1.4 million registered refugees, as corroborated by the UNHCR.