Refugee repatriation suspended: Killing near UNHCR centre sparks riots
By Zulfiqar Ali
PESHAWAR, March 31: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has suspended repatriation indefinitely following the killing of an Afghan national near the verification centre and subsequent riots here on Saturday, police said.Police fired tear gas shells and resorted to baton-charge to disperse a mob that had blocked the Peshawar-Torkham road.
Angry Afghans pelted vehicles with stones to protest against the killing of the man, slow pace of verification of unregistered refugees returning home and mismanagement at the UNHCR centre.
Witnesses said paramilitary forces opened fire on a crowd which was beating a UNHCR worker for allegedly demanding bribe. As a result, a refugee, Bahlool, died.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Operation) Iftikhar Khan denied that the Afghan had been killed by law-enforcement personnel. He claimed that the victim had been killed by his enemies. He said that no arrest had been made and the body had been dispatched to Afghanistan immediately.
The SSP said lack of facilities and slow verification process had irritated the people who blocked the road. “He was killed by police,” Suhbat Khan, an Afghan national, told Dawn.
Following the incident, additional force was called in to avert further lawlessness. An official of the Afghan consulate also reached the site.
UNHCR spokesperson Rabia Ali said the verification centre had been closed for precautionary measures and the repatriation process had been suspended.
Thousands of Afghan families have thronged the centre since the government set April 15 as the deadline for the unregistered Afghans. The UN agency has announced that unregistered Afghans would not be paid the $100 per head assistance after the grace period.
