PESHAWAR, Sept 16: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday closed its validation centre in Alizai, Kurram Agency.

An official in the commissionerate for Afghan refugees said the agency had closed the centre due to decline in the number of refugees returning to their country.

The UNHCR had established validation centres in Peshawar and the Kurram Agency to help Afghans returning to their homeland under the UN-sponsored voluntary repatriation programme.

UNHCR officials said about 350,000 refugees had gone back to Afghanistan from Pakistan since March. The organization had estimated that 400,000 refugees' return to their country would be facilitated during the year.

Sources said the security situation in the tribal region and Afghanistan had affected the pace of repatriation. The UN agency has directed its workers not to visit the southern districts of the NWFP, including Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, due to the prevailing security situation.