May 06, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1429

PESHAWAR, May 5: Most of Afghan families living in Jalozai refugee camp have moved to different villages in Nowshera and Peshawar districts instead of repatriating to their homeland, it is learnt.

According to government statistics more than five thousand families have so far left for Afghanistan from the camp. But the authorities concerned have no record of those Afghans who have slipped from the camp and mingled in the local population to evade their eviction.

Police sources said that most of Afghan refugees had moved to the nearby villages in Nowshera district and some of them had gone to various localities in Peshawar.

The government, sources said, was bound to keep watch on movement of the refugees prior to dislocating them from the camps. They said that such Afghans could be easily found in Tarkha, Akbarpura, Khush Muqam, Taro, Tarnab, Lala Kalay,Chamkani, Pubbi,Cherat and other adjacent areas.

“In Peshawar such refugees are living in every locality and they are ready to welcome and accommodate every newcomer of their community even if there are three families in a small size house,” a police official said.

Referring to Kacha Garhi camp, the official said majority of the inhabitants preferred to shift to the city instead of going to their homeland. According to rules the refugees were not allowed to reside in the settled area, buy and hire property or establish their business, he said.

During a visit to various property dealers in the city it was learnt that majority of those seeking the houses on rent were Afghans. Hameed Khan, a dealer, said that owners did not want to rent out their houses to Afghan refugees as they were not reliable and could leave anytime after committing some ‘wrongdoings’.

“However, there the government did not issue directives to us about not providing houses on rent to refugees,” he said. He added that it depended on the property dealers and land owners to accommodate Afghans or refuse to rent out their houses to them.

A UNHCR spokesperson, when contacted, said that 27,000 individuals had so far been repatriated while the process was continuing. She said that people living in the largest refugee camp were gradually leaving for their homeland as per schedule of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The presence of Afghans is a major issue here who has badly affected the social life of the people.

The government had launched a drive last year and had fixed April 15 as deadline for expelling Afghans from the city. Afghan commissionerate, City Development and Municipal Department and police were asked to jointly carry out the drive, but the process was suspended because of reasons best known to the officials concerned.

SSP operations Syed Imtiaz Shah, when contacted, said the police had kept vigilance on the movement of Afghans and would take action them in case of their involvement in any unlawful activity.

He said leakage of Afghans from the camps were no more a secret as they were openly roaming around everywhere. He admitted shifting of refugees from camps, saying that the police had no data about their presence in a particular area.

Most of the accused found involved in various crimes, he said were Afghans who were fast changing their addresses, especially after committing crimes. He said that eviction of refugees was the only way to improve law and order situation in the province.