SHALMAN, Oct 1: The newly-earmarked site in the Shalman area, Khyber Agency, on the Pakistan-Afghan border, where six new refugee camps are to be set up in the coming few days, will house around 70,000 new refugees expected to cross into Pakistan.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which is supervising the project, has identified this barren place, some 75 kilometres northwest of Peshawar on the zero line on Durand line.

The site, overlooked by six pickets of Frontier Corps (FC), is located amid rugged and rough mountains, which make access to the new site difficult. The approach road meandering up the mountains is very narrow, which will create problems for heavy vehicles. The UNHCR has expressed concern over the location of some sites proposed for settling the new refugees.

The residents have raised concern over the proposed site as the local population of Shalman are already leading a difficult life, specially in securing drinking water. A small spring, called Sara Cheina is the only source of drinking water for 6,000 people.

The water supply to the area is also an uphill task as the entire wasteland does not have enough water reservoirs in the vicinity where tent villages are going to appear, the locals said.

An elderly man hailing from the Shalman tribe has allocated more than 300 acres of land free of cost for the new settlement, an official of the political administration of Khyber Agency said here on Monday.

Stori Khan, a tribal security guard, revealed that Shalman was the main supply route to Afghanistan during Soviet invasion. He said that many people had been killed when houses collapsed due to heavy shelling by Russian forces from across the border. “The new settlement of refugees may put the local population in trouble again,” he said.

The official said that the site is suitable from the security point of view, because the FC could easily monitor the refugees movement. However, the transportation of food to the proposed camps would be difficult, he added.

According to the plan, four camps will be set up at Ghakhi Sar and two in Kharigo Daga of the identified site. In each camp, 1,500 refugee families will be encamped. Concerned officials said that the government had proposed 10 sites in the Khyber Agency for the fresh arrivals.

The government has planned to shift the inmates of Nasir Bagh refugee camp, Peshawar, to the proposed Shalman Camp. An elder of the camp informed that the government had left them with two options — either to shift to Shamshato camp near Peshawar or the newly-identified Shalman Camp.

The provincial government had served notices on 100,000 inmates of the Nasir Bagh refugee camp to vacate the site by last Sunday. The government plans a township scheme on the site.

The Afghan Commissionerate has chalked out a three-phase contingency plan for the new arrivals, three-month, six-month and one-year. Under the three-month programme, tents, food, drinking water and medical facilities will be provided to the new refugees. If the refugees prolonged their stay for six months, then primary schools for boys and girls will be established on temporary basis. The schools will remain permanently there if the refugees’ stay extended one year.

The commissionerate official said that security staff would be increased for the new camps and each camp would get 25 employees including security staff.

Meanwhile, speaking at a Press conference here on Monday, a spokesman for the UNHCR, Yousaf Hassan, said that 23 sites had been identified for the new refugees. He said the UNHCR specialist teams would visit the sites on Tuesday.

He said 70,000 blankets and 250 plastic sheet rolls would be sent for the refugees, adding that the UN agency emergency teams had arrived in Peshawar and Quetta.