August 29, 2007	Wednesday	Sha’aban 15, 1428

PESHAWAR, Aug 28: The authorities are learnt to have turned down a request by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to extend the stay of Afghan refugees living in the Jalozai camp.

Negotiations on the camp’s fate were held between the UNHCR’s country head Guenet Gubre-Christos and Secretary of the Ministry of State and Frontier Region (Safron) Sajid Hassan Chatta.

Sources privy to the meeting said the UN agency appealed to the government to suspend the refugees’ evacuation and allow them to stay until the next spring, but the request was turned down.

“There was considerable disagreement… over the extension and delay in the camp’s closure. The government wants to close it down as early as possible,” the source said.

The UN had asked Islamabad last week to delay shutting down the camp, home to over 120,000 Afghans, and to suspend the evacuation for a period of six months because of the upcoming harsh weather conditions. The UN believed that evacuation of over 100,000 people could trigger a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Safron Secretary Sajid Hassan Chatta told journalists after the meeting that the UNHCR had yet to formally appeal to the government regarding the refugee camp’s closure. “We discussed the issue with the UNHCR, but no extension will be given to refugees (living) in Jalozai (camp) as voluntary repatriation is under way from the camp,” he said.

A source said that last week, the UN formally submitted an appeal to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, seeking extension in the refugees’ stay, adding that the Afghan government was also likely to request Islamabad to delay the repatriation process.Mr Chatta said the refugees had made up their mind to vacate the site and 289 families left the place on Monday. So far, about 10,000 people had gone to Afghanistan.

The government had earlier fixed Aug 31 as deadline for closing the camp, but Mr Chatta said the date could only be extended for a few weeks, not for months. He said that the evacuation process was gaining momentum and the government did not want to create any hindrances.

Official said that Islamabad had been following an agreement of the tripartite commission — comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR — in letter and spirit, adding that no refugee would be forcibly evacuated.

Under the agreement, the Kacha Garhi camp near Peshawar has already been closed down while in addition to the one in Jalozai, two camps would be closed down this year in the country.