ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: For fear of reprisal against the non-Pakhtoon refugees in the aftermath of the recent killing of Pakhtoons in Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul, the Pakistan government has decided to shift the Shia Afghan refugees to a new camp in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, official sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
“Very soon about 4,500 Shia Afghan refugees, now lodged at the Jallozai camp near Peshawar, would be settled at a makeshift camp to quash fears of a confrontation among the refugees,” they said.
Hundreds of Mujahideen, most of whom were from Malakand and other parts of the NWFP, were in Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. They were killed by the Northern Alliance troops in Kabul and then in Mazar-i-Sharif.
As a result of these killings, there has been an angry reaction in the NWFP. Some religious leaders have even threatened that they will not spare Persian-speaking Afghan refugees living in Pakistan to avenge the killing of Pakhtoons in Afghanistan.
“This has put the Pakistan government in a very difficult situation,” the source said and added that the shifting of Afghan refugees from the settled districts to tribal areas is already in progress.
Meanwhile, the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees, Syed Asif Ali Shah, has expressed optimism that food supplies to the war-ravaged interiors of Afghanistan will be resumed as soon as conditions on the Pakistan-Afghan borders at Torkham return to normal.
The new administration in Afghanistan has secured the Torkham to Jalalabad as the convoys were escorted by armed men and Jalalabad-Kabul Road was already peaceful, he claimed.
He denied reports about an order to stop the pre-registration of Afghan refugees at Chaman or Torkham.
More than 1,000 individuals were pre-registered at Chaman on Tuesday, it was said at UN press briefing.
He, however, said the policy of complete ban on fresh entry of Afghans into the country remained unchanged. “Only vulnerable ones and those with valid documents are being allowed entry,” said Shah.
He was apprehensive about the short supply of food to the southern parts of the country, specially areas around Spin Boldak across Chaman borders, where hostilities between the Taliban forces and local commanders were continuing.
Talking to this scribe, Shah said the process of shifting of Afghan refugees from the staging camps of Chaman borders to the newly-established Roghani camp has started and so far some 10,500 refugees had been shifted.
Also, 2,000 refugees from the Faiza village had been taken there. The Roghani camp, which would house 70,000 refugees, was being established and funded by the UAE, he said.
Also, the UNHCR was engaged in moving about 2,500 most vulnerable Afghan women to Shamshatoo camp from the Jallozai camp.
