Amid the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Shehryar Khan Afridi has stepped up efforts to provide food to Afghan refugees living in parts of the country.

In this regard, Afridi has written letters to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and urged the organisation to accelerate relief efforts and provide food to Afghan refugee families trapped in lockdown across Pakistan.

According to an estimate, there are around 3.5 million Afghans living across Pakistan. As many as 1.8 million of them are registered refugees and 0.8 million are PoR card holders. The rest are illegal immigrants who have yet to register themselves with the authorities concerned.

Afridi and cricketer Shahid Afridi on Friday visited Afghan Refugees Camp in Kohat and oversaw distribution of food packages to 1,000 Afghan Refugee families affected by the lockdown. The food supplies were provided by the Shahid Afridi Foundation.

On the occasion, Shehryar Afridi said he had launched the food supplies campaign according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the government would reach out to Afghan refugees in every nook and corner of the country with the assistance package.

He expressed special gratitude to Shahid Afridi for providing food for 1,000 Afghan refugee families. Shehryar Afridi appealed to people to remember the weak and the poor segments of the society who may not get food due to the lockdown in these difficult times.

On the occasion, Shahid Afridi said, “Afghan refugees are our brothers and Pakistanis stand by Afghan families in these testing times.” He said that Afghan brothers should not be forgotten in these difficult times.

Also, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has started dispatching core relief items in line with the Government of Pakistan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief items include medical supplies and sanitation products such as sanitary clothes, soap and disinfectants. These packages will be provided to health facilities in support of refugees and host communities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Four trucks carrying supplies left UNHCR’s central warehouse in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for Balochistan. More items will be delivered next week. “UNHCR is committed to supporting the Government’s COVID-19 prevention and response measures,” said UNHCR Deputy Representative in Pakistan Iain Hall.

He said that Agency’s priority is to contribute to the overall effort to minimise the spread and impact of the virus. It will provide medical supplies and consumables including personal protective equipment (PPE), which will be delivered to support people of Pakistan and the Afghan refugees that they have hosted so generously for forty years.

UNHCR is currently focusing on interventions in three main areas: prevention and response; water and sanitation; and risk communication. The Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (Ministry of SAFRON) and UNHCR’s NGO partners are amplifying the government’s messages and reminders based on WHO guidance on COVID-19 infection prevention and control, including self-hygiene and social distancing.