PESHAWAR, Nov 8: A large number of illegal immigrants are forced to live in constant fear because the National Alien Registration Authority's has no presence in the NWFP.

Officials said that the federal government had been requested to extend the role of NARA to the NWFP to register illegal immigrants, who had been living in the province for many years without legal documents.

"The interior ministry is yet to entertain the province's request in this regard," said a senior official, who deals with the affairs of illegal immigrants.

The official, however, declined to give the exact number of immigrants living in the NWFP without legal documents.

"Nara has done a good job in Karachi and registered a large number of illegal immigrants and also issued work permits. The federal government must extend the authority's cover to the NWFP to resolve problems faced by aliens," he commented.

Officials told Dawn that a number of families from Central Asian countries have been living in Peshawar and other parts of the province without legal documents.

They left their countries in mid-90s after various Muslim militant organisations started uprisings against their respective governments. Upon arrival in Pakistan via Afghanistan, they were initially granted refugee status and were entitled by the UNHCR to get food assistance and free movement across the country.

Sources said that about 800 students from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states were enrolled in educational students in Peshawar in 2000. These institutions were supposed to facilitate only Afghan refugees, but were allowed to give admission to non-Afghan immigrants.

A number of families from Central Asian states also migrated to Pakistan because of insurgency-like situations in their respective countries.

In the aftermath of the Sep 11 situation, the situation has changed and these families are in a difficult position. Many of them have gone underground, while some of them were being harassed.

Amir Hamza Halimov, a national of Tajikistan, and his family are running from pillar to post, but his request for resettlement elsewhere in the world has been rejected by the UNHCR.

Situation in the South Waziristan tribal region and crackdown against suspected elements in urban areas has made life miserable for them. Recently, security forces arrested a Tajik boy in South Waziristan on charges of having links with militants. However, the boy denies any links with the militants and insists that he was kidnapped from Tajikistan.

Mr Halimov, who left Tajikistan in 1995, is now living in a single-room house along with his four children and wife. His minor children are growing up in a horrible atmosphere as they have no access to education or other basic facilities.

His four sons and a daughter, born as refugees, have lost their legal status and have been living as illegal immigrants since 2000.

UNHCR informed the family that on the basis of some "information", his application could not be entertained.

The UNHCR has stopped entertaining re-settlement cases in Pakistan, while the agency recently shifted about 200 Afghan families from Central Asian countries to Canada for settlement.

Mr Halimov said that his children were constantly confined to their tiny home as they felt threatened and insecure. He said that he was afraid of venturing out of his home alone and that he always carried two or three children with to avoid any police action.