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J{ejrat: THE MIGRATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES TO PAKISTAN, 1978·1990 ' , Paul Foley '\ 1 HEJRAT: THE MIGRATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES TO PAKISTAN, 1978-1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAW All IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN GEOGRAPHY DECEMBER 1991 By Paul Foley Thesis Committee: Murray Chapman, Chairperson Brian Murton Robert Gardner 11 We certify that we have read this thesis and that, in our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography. THESIS COMMI'ITEE Murray Chapman Chairperson Brian Murton Robert Gardner 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan who have been forced to leave their country and seek refuge in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran. Without the assistance of those Afghan refugees living in refugee tented villages in Pakistan, this research would not have been possible. I would like to thank all those persons interviewed during the study for the wealth of information which they provided, and for the heartfelt hospitality extended to me during my stay. A very special acknowledgment is made to Momtaz, not only for his contribution to the study as my translator, but also for his patience and understanding in most difficult conditions, and for teaching me more about the people and customs of Afghanistan. I also express my gratitude to the Government of Pakistan personnel at the various refugee villages visited during the study, for their assistance and hospitality. There are also countless members of the international aid community who are working with, and for, the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan, who provided me with data and advice. To all these people I express my gratitude. Particular thanks is extended to Chris Nelson and the other staff members at ACBAR Resource and Information Centre (ARIC) in Peshawar for their continued assistance during my research. I also express my appreciation of the assistance provided by Dr. Ijaz Gilani, of the Centre for Asian Studies in Islamabad, who acted as my field supervisor; the personnel at the United states Educational Foundation in Pakistan, who assisted with many aspects of my stay in Pakistan; and the National Institute for Population Studies for allowing my affiliation with them. A sincere thank-you is extended to Dr. Murray Chapman for his continued assistance and advice throughout my stay at the University of Hawaii. I am indebted to him for his continued support and encouragement throughout this research, from initial proposal to completed thesis, without which this project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Brian Murton and Bob Gardner for their contributions to this thesis. I am especially thankful to the East­ West population Institute for providing funds to conduct field work. Finally, thanks to Margaret Young for her assistance with data computation; Andrew Smith for his cartographic advice; and Cecile Cutler and Curtis Andressen for their comments on this thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS page List of Tables . vii List of Illustrations ....................................... ix CHAPTER 1- UNDERSTANDING INVOLUNTARY POPULATION MOVEMENT ............................... 1 Explanations and Approaches to Involuntary Movements . 3 Directions for Research . 11 CHAPTER 2- IMPACT OF WAR ON THE POPULATION OF AFGHANISTAN . 13 The Evolution of the Crisis . 13 The Decimation of the Afghan Population . 18 Extent of the Afghan Exodus . 23 Distribution of Afghan refugees in Pakistan . 29 CHAPTER 3 - REFUGEE VILLAGES AND FIELD ENQUIRIES . 37 The North West Frontier Province .............. 37 Research Outline . 39 The Ethnosurvey . 40 Primary Field Enquiries . 43 Refugee Tented Villages ...................... 45 Location . 48 Settlement and Population . 49 Demographic Structure . 53 Conclusion . 58 CHAPTER 4 - REFUGEE FLIGHT AND SETTLEMENT . 59 Characteristics of the Study Population . 60 Afghan Refugee Migration and the Kunz Theory . 69 Flight-Arrival Patterns . 69 Associative Patterns . 70 Form of Displacement ................. 71 Home-Related Factors ................. 73 Host-Related Factors .................. 75 Population Policies . 77 Social Attitudes . 78 The Predictive Hypotheses of the Kunz Theory . 79 Summary ................................. 82 VI CHAPTER 5 - UTILITY AND IMPOLICATIONS OF THE KUNZ MODEL .................................. 83 Utility of the Kunz Theory . 83 Avenues for Future Research .................. 91 APPENDIX 1 Letter of Authorization . 99 APPENDIX 2 Registered refugee population of RTVs in Pakistan, October 1989 . 101 APPENDIX 3 The Interview Guide ........................ 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 113 VII LIST OF TABLES Table page 2.1 War deaths in Afghanistan, 1978-1987, as a percent of 1979 Poulation, by province and region .................................... 20 2.2 War-related Death Rates of the Afghan Population, 1978-1987, by Age and Sex . 22 2.3 Ethnic Composition of Afghanistan Population, 1978 and 1987) and Afghan Refugees in Pakistan (1987) .................................... 23 2.4 Estimated populations of surveyed refugees in Pakistan, 1988-89 . 28 2.5 Afghan refugee population in Pakistan, August 1990 . 30 3.1 Population of refugee tented villages visited, August 1990 . 51 3.2 Housing in Baghicha RTVs, 1989 ............... 54 3.3 General marital fertility rates of selected countries . 56 3.4 Infant and child mortality rates of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, 1984-1987 ....................... 57 4.1 Province of Origin of Refugees Interviewed . 60 4.2 Refugee Occupations: 1978 and 1990 . 61 4.3 Duration of Journey from Afghanistan ........... 64 4.4 Mode of transportation during escape . 65 4.5 Difficulties encountered during escape JOurneys .................................. 66 4.6 Reasons for fleeing Afghanistan . 67 Vlll 4.7 Specific events which caused hejrat among study population . 68 IX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure page 1.1 Petersen's general typology of migration 4 1.2 Eichenbaum's matrix of human migration 5 1.3 Richmond's paradigm of international population movements . 6 1.4 Kunz's theory of refugee migration . 9 2.1 Provincial Map of Afghanistan . 15 2.2 Structural changes to the population of Afghanistan, 1978-1987 . 19 2.3 War deaths in Afghanistan, as a percent of local population in 1979, by province, 1978-1987 ........ 21 2.4 Afghan refugee registration in Pakistan, 1978-1990 . 25 2.5 Depopulation of Afghanistan due to refugee migration, as a percentage of 1979 provincial population, by province . 27 2.6 Year of maximum refugee exodus from Afghanistan, by province, 1978-1987 ....................... 27 2.7 Distribution of refugee tented villages in Pakistan, 1990 ............................. 31 2.8 Origin of ninety percent of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, by province, 1978-1989 . 34 2.9 Refugee exodus from Afghanistan to Pakistan, by province of origin, 1978-1989 . 34 2.10 Patterns of refugee migrations from Afghanistan to Pakistan, by province, 1978-1989 . 35 3.1 Location of study villages, August 1990 ........... 41 X 3.2 Organizational chart of Afghan refugee management in Pakistan, 1984 . 46 3.3 Age pyramid of the population of Afghanistan, 1979, and the Afghan refugee population, 1987 . 55 4.1 Year of hejrat among study population . 63 4.2 Form of initial refugee displacement . 72 5.1 Anticipatory-Acute Refugee Continuum . 84 5.2 Thomas' model of diaspora formation . 93 1 1 UNDERSTANDING INVOLUNTARY POPULATION MOVEMENT Involuntary migration impelled by disaster is not a new phenomenon. Large scale flows forced by the outbreak of conflicts between ethnic, religious, and national groups, or from the impact of natural disasters, have been evident throughout recorded history. However, the world has never witnessed as many refugees 1 and displaced persons2 as there are today. The United States Committee on Refugees (1990:31) has reported that there were 15,093,900 refugees worldwide who required international protection and/or assistance at the end of 1989. They were waiting for asylum, resettlement, or repatriation in 102 different countries. At the same time it was estimated that between 13,547,000 and 18,317,000 persons had been displaced in just twenty-two of these countries (USCR, 1990:32). So far this century, approximately 140 million people are thought to have migrated involuntarily, leading to this era being labelled as "The Century of the Refugee: (Harrell-Bond, 1988:1). Until recently, forced movements were more often associated with flight from the ravages of war-torn or socialist Europe, to other European countries, or to the major immigration countries of Australia, Canada, Israel, and the United States. However, Rogge (1987:7) has reminded us that significant involuntary migrations have occurred in the Third World throughout the twentieth century, as followed the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and the Palestinian crisis in 1948 after the creation of Israel. It was not until a global explosion in the "size, intricacy and intractability" of refugee crises towards the end of the 1970s that attention was focussed on the Third World (Smyser, 1987: vii). Since The definition of a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the

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