August 25, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 11, 1428

PESHAWAR, Aug 24: The government has spurned an appeal of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and decided to go ahead with the plan to wind up the Jalozai refugee camp before Ramazan, an official said on Friday.

“Despite appeal by the UNHCR the government will not suspend its plan at this stage and will not give further extension to the residents of Jalozai camp,” the official said. He said the government had not extended the refugees’ stay in the camp by six months.

The UNHCR had appealed to the government to suspend the evacuation plan from Jalozai camp in Nowshera district, saying that it could create a humanitarian crisis. Over 120,000 Afghans have been living in the camp.

Officials said that about 1,000 families had left the camp and gone to Afghanistan under the UNHCR-sponsored voluntary repatriation programme. They said that some 200 families were to proceed to their homeland on Monday. They said that the camp was likely to be wound up before Ramazan.

They said that evacuation from the camp was slow because of delay in the deployment of security forces. According to the original plan, the camp was to be closed by Aug 31.