PESHAWAR, Aug 31: Pakistan has extended by two weeks Wednesday’s deadline for the expulsion of thousands of Afghan refugees from the sensitive tribal regions near the Afghan border, officials said.
“The deadline has been extended up to September 15 to facilitate all refugees’ repatriation from Bajaur and Kurram tribal areas,” a senior official monitoring refugees in North West Frontier Province said.
The official said hundreds of truckloads of refugees were lined up in Kurram and extra staff had been sent to help out.
The authorities asked the refugees to either go back to Afghanistan or relocate inside the country ahead of parliamentary elections in Afghanistan due on Sept 18.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated around 65,000 Afghans from the two regions but still more than 100,000 Afghans were waiting to be sent back.
“We’ve got crowds waiting for repatriation,” UNHCR spokesman Jack Redden said.
Mr Redden said 51,000 refugees were registered in Bajaur and only 9,339 were repatriated by Tuesday. In Kurram more than 100,000 refugees were registered but only 55,000 had gone back so far, he said.—AFP
