November 20, 2001	Tuesday	Ramazan 4, 1422

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PESHAWAR, Nov 19: A batch of 382 Afghan refugees living in the Jalozai makeshift camp were shifted to the newly established camp at Kotakai in Bajaur agency, 120 kilometres north of Peshawar on Monday.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in collaboration with the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, NWFP, started shifting the recently arrived inmates of the Jalozai camp to the newly set up refugee camp at Kotakai after Islamabad gave a nod to that effect.

The NWFP government wanted the UNHCR to shift Afghans living in urban centres of the province to the newly set up camps, however, it was only last week that the provincial authorities agreed to allow the UNHCR to accommodate, in the new camp, the inmates of the Jalozai makeshift camp who entered Pakistan recently through unfrequented routes defying Islamabad’s ban on the entry of Afghans fleeing US attacks.

The UNHCR’s Geneva-based spokesman Kris Janowski, presently in Peshawar, said that some 600 Afghans had got their names registered with the Jalozai camp authorities for getting shifted to the new camp set up in Bajaur agency.

“However, some 382 people showed up on Monday who were then boarded in seven buses to shift them to the new camp,” said the UNHCR spokesman.

Second batch of several hundred refugees from the inmates of the Jalozai camp would be shifted to the Kotakai camp on Tuesday.

The Kotakai camp, situated close to the Pakistan- Afghanistan border, has a capacity of 20,000 persons.

“We will be shifting as many as we could (from Jalozai),” said Janowski.

The UNHCR and the provincial authorities concerned have decided to shift to the new camp only the Afghan DPs of Pakhtoon origin in an effort to avoid any confrontation between the Afghan ethnic minorities and local Pakhtoon tribesmen.

“The new camp is situated in a Pakhtoon dominated area hence it has been decided that only Pakhtoon origin Afghan DPs would be accommodated there,” said the official sources.

All those who are being shifted to Kotakai refugee camp, in Bajaur agency, from the Jalozai makeshift camp would be extended refugee status.

The government, said the sources, wanted to keep the process limited to the Jalozai makeshift camp. “As Islamabad does not want to create a pulling factor,” said the UNHCR spokesman.

The country, said the UNHCR spokesman, had got some really genuine reasons for not accepting new refugees or accommodating the newly arrived Afghans in areas closer to its borders with Afghanistan.

Apart from the considerations of already housing around two million refugees, Pakistan has been opposing to accept the new influx of Afghan DPs as it may destabilize its security.

Despite a ban on the entry of Afghan DPs, thousands of Afghans found their way in Peshawar, illegally through unfrequented routes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“If the government starts accommodating every newly arrived Afghan to the new camp, it would encourage more refugees to surge towards Pakistan,” said a senior officer.

However, considerably a larger number of Afghan DPs, form among the inmates of the Jalozai camp who have an opportunity to avail refugee status by opting to get shifted to the new camp, appear to be reluctant to utilize the opportunity.

They were apprehensive of getting forcefully repatriated to Afghanistan for being accommodated in places closer to the Afghanistan border, said the sources.