November 7, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba’an 20, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Pakistan has expressed its willingness to establish peace zones inside Afghanistan for internally displaced persons (IDPs), a move which is being opposed by the United States.

Sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the US was not ready to accept the peace zones’ proposal that had initially been given by the United Nations.

When contacted for comments, the federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and the Northern Areas Division, Abbas Sarfraz, said: “Pakistan would like to see the peace zones inside Afghanistan, where the IDPs can be provided with shelter in the safe heavens.

“Implementation of the proposal could materialize only if the allied forces agree not to bomb the peace zones and whether the Taliban allow it or not.”

Earlier, the minister presided over a meeting of the central coordination committee set up by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to discuss a three-point strategy related to food delivery to refugees, establishment of camps for IDPs inside Afghanistan and status of camps inside Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by representatives of UN agencies, including UNOCHA, UNHCR and the WFP.

It was decided at the meeting that the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA) would start a survey to set up camps for IDPs inside Afghanistan from the next week.

The minister informed the meeting that in addition to the UN humanitarian efforts, Pakistan would make efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to IDPs inside Afghanistan. He said representatives of the Edhi Foundation, the Red Cross, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and the commissionerate of Afghan refugees would be meeting on Wednesday (today) to finalize a strategy for the delivery of aid inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan, he added, would also talk to Taliban authorities and would try to work out a methodology for the delivery of the humanitarian assistance within Afghanistan at the earliest.

Mr Sarfraz said food distribution by the WFP in Afghanistan was 2,600 tonnes per day against the target of 2,000 tonnes per day.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR said in a press release that the temporary site at Killi Faizo was full and some 400 Afghans were waiting for entering the facility set up 600 metres inside the Chaman border.

The refugee agency said that no new vulnerable refugees had been able to enter the Killi Faizo site since Nov 1, while negotiations were continuing between UN and Pakistani officials on moving the camp’s residents to a camp at Roghani, about 20km south of the Chaman border.

“With night-time temperatures dropping dramatically over the past few days, UNHCR is deeply concerned about the condition of these families living out in the open, and is currently discussing how to improve their situation with the local authorities”, the UNHCR press release said.

The agency said it was trying to find ways of assisting the so-called invisible refugees — Afghans who have crossed into Balochistan, but have disappeared into old refugee camps or the nearby Quetta city.

Discussions are continuing between local authorities and the UNHCR, Unicef, the Mercy Corps International and Save the Children (US) to find ways of helping new refugees.

With regards to the North West Frontier Province, the refugee agency said it was working with the local authorities to relocate newly-arrived refugees living in what it described as “overcrowded and destitute conditions” at the Jalozai camp.

The plan is to transfer the refugees at Jalozai and other camps to identified sites in the tribal agencies areas close to the Afghan border.

Work is currently underway in eight of the 15 sites identified, with the Kotbai camp in the Bajaur Agency expected to be the first to become operational.