PESHAWAR, July 31: The government has ordered unregistered local Afghan NGOs to close their offices and shift to Afghanistan, according to official sources.

An official confirmed that about 190 unregistered local Afghan NGOs received notices to wind up their business with immediate effect. The government also issued notices to a number of Afghan medical practitioners to close their clinics in the city. The Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (Safron) had constituted a scrutiny committee, comprising various agencies to audit financial and administrative affairs of the Afghan NGOs and foreign-funded relief agencies.

The sources said that the scrutiny committee had found some 190 unregistered Afghan NGOs in Peshawar and Islamabad. They said that these Afghan NGOs could not justify their presence here after political developments in Afghanistan.

On the recommendation of the committee concerned the Afghan Commissionerate directed the management of these NGOs to finish their activities. A relief agency worker confirmed that a number of local Afghan NGOs had already shifted their offices to Kabul.

REFUGEE CENTRE: The voluntary repatriation centre at Azakhel near Peshawar will stop operation from Wednesday. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) closed the centre due to reduction in the number of Afghan returnees.