June 14, 2002	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1423

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PESHAWAR, June 13: Participants of a meeting here have called upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take notice of the plight of the Afghan refugees being harassed and arrested by the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan.

Speaking at a moot organized by the International Human Rights Law Group here on Wednesday, Chairman of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Afrasiyab Khattak said the HRCP was conducting a survey of the Afghan refugees languishing at various prisons in the NWFP.

He said the police had arrested over 3,000 Afghan refugees in Rawalpindi during a crackdown and 1,000 of them were still detained in Adiala jail. “The police harass and arrest everybody who looks like an Afghan. It is a glaring violation of human rights. The people of Pakistan gave a good treatment to the Afghan refugees in the last 23 years, but after a conspicuous shift in the government policy in 2000, the refugees have been undergoing humiliation,” he added.

He disclosed that authorities were denying visas to those Afghan refugees who held new passports. The immigration staff was not giving them a fair treatment, he added.

Mr Khattak regretted that the government had not organized a single ceremony to see off refugees returning their home after a long stay in Pakistan. Instead, the staff of law enforcement agencies were extorting money from them, he added.

The IHRLG Country Programme Director, Samina Nazir, urged the NGOs to set crisis centres for Afghan refugee women looking for help and security.