PESHAWAR: The federal government will begin the registration of around one million undocumented Afghan refugees on July 15 to provide legal cover to their stay in the country.

The decision to carry out the exercise was made during a recent meeting of the states and frontier regions ministry, National Database and Registration Authority and Afghan commissionerate, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commissionerate Afghan Refugees director general Waqar Maroof in a statement issued here.

Mr Maroof said the registration of undocumented Afghan refugees, which would continue for eight months, was also outlined in the 20-point National Action Plan made to counter terrorism in the wake of the Dec 2014 Taliban attack on the Army Public School Peshawar, which had killed 144 students and staff members.

He said the exercise wouldcover all Afghan nationals living in the country without legal documents.

The CAR chief said though the registered Afghans could stay in the country until Dec 31, 2017, their voluntary repatriation was under way.

He said the Safran ministry, Nadra and Afghan commissionerate had decided to establish 22 refugee registration centres in the country, including 11 in KP.

Mr Maroof said of the KP centres, four would be set up in Peshawar and one each in Nowshera, Haripur, Mansehra, Kohat, Hangu, Mardan and Dir.

He said the Safron, Nadra, Afghan commissionerate staff members would register around one million Afghan refugees in the country, including 0.6 million in KP.

The CAR chief around 35,000 Afghan refugees had returned voluntarily in the current year, while speedy repatriation of Afghans was expected in the days ahead.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is not part of the forthcoming registration process. It only deals with the matters related to the registered refugees living in the country and provides the $200 financial assistance to every family returning voluntarily.

The relevant ofhcials told Dawn that legally speaking,there would be no difference between the status of the already registered Afghans and the newly registered ones` but financial assistance won`t be provided to the latter.

They said the Afghan ministry for refugees` repatriation would also be involved in the registration exercise, which would help have the accurate number of Afghans living in the country.

The officials said the government could extend the process if the number of refugees to be registered exceeded the target.

They said the government had carried out the first Afghan registration campaign through Nadra in 2006 and issued registered refugees the proof of registration cards, while the newly registered Afghans would get Afghan Citizen Cards carrying their and their families` particulars.

After the APS massacre, the law-enforcement and security agencies had launched crackdown on illegal Afghan nationals before deporting many of them, while a large number of undocumented refugees returnedfearinglegalaction.

The officials said the issuance of the Afghan Citizen Cards would effectively address the complaints of the undocumented Afghans about harassment by the police and other law-enforcement agencies.