December 13, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 21, 1427

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KOHAT, Dec 12: A large number of Afghan refuges who could not register during the countrywide census last year, have complained that they are facing difficulties in getting the registration cards in three southern districts of the NWFP.

Officials of the National Database and Registration Authority and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees told Dawn that at least 350,000 refugees would remain unregistered by the deadline of Dec 31. This would create problems for them and the law-enforcement agencies, they said.

“It is the duty of the census staff comprising officials of the commissionerate and Nadra to register the remaining refugees because both the registered and unregistered refugees were considered as voters at the time of the Afghan presidential elections. In many cases, children voted and a large number of people cast more than one vote,” they said.

There should be no problem in registering the refugees whose names had not been entered in the voters’ list and the government should ease the rule in this regard, they said.

The registration is for identification of refugees because they cannot be differentiated from local people otherwise.

Registration of the refugees would also make it easy to identify whether those involved in terrorist acts are locals or foreigners.

The authorities have established five registration centres in Kohat, Hangu and Karak, each having 11 staff members.

There is great rush in Hangu, where another centre is needed to complete the process by the deadline.

Meanwhile, complaints have been received that registration fee is being demanded at some centres.

An official said there was no fee for the registration.

The teams have registered 27,000 refugees in Kohat, 21,000 in Hangu and 2,000 in Karak.

The registration in Orakzai Agency began on Monday.

During last year’s census, the International Organisation for Migration had established 19 booths in Kohat, Hangu and Orakzai Agency but the number of centres for issuing registration cards is considerable low.