January 29, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 19, 1429

PESHAWAR, Jan 28: The Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR) has planned to vacate eleven refugee camps in the NWFP including Jalozai camp in Nowshera district this year, said a handout.

Repatriation of the Afghan refugees would start from March in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The handout said that NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani was briefed here at the Governor’s House on Monday about the state of refugees and non registered Afghans residing in different parts of the province.

The governor directed CAR authorities to conduct a survey of the Afghan refugees, living in different areas especially on the suburbs of Peshawar to monitor them effectively.

The schedule prepared for repatriation of refugees, in consultation of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees must be followed, the governor said.

He said that the government should took control of the refugee camps, which were established on state land, and no one should be allowed to make encroachments over there.

Talking about the role of UNHCR, Mr Owais said that it should accept its responsibilities in the repatriation process and resettlement of refugees in Afghanistan.

He said that as long as the refugees were present in the province, the UNHCR should provide them with food and other necessities of life.

The meeting was informed that presently, about 0.798 million refugees were present in various camps while 0.533 million were living at their own in various districts of the province.

On another point, it was said that since the start of repatriation process in 1988, almost one million Afghan refugees had been repatriated, out of which 0.168 million had repatriated last year.