PESHAWAR: The federal government has directed provinces to acquire land at suitable locations near the Afghan border for establishing new camps for refugees to facilitate their repatriation after December 2015.

“New camps are to be established near borders at suitable places so that the repatriation could be facilitated after December 2015,” said the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions in a letter issued to the chief secretaries of the four provinces and respective Afghan commissionerates a few days ago.

The ministry issued these directives to the provinces following a high-level meeting, which took place at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad on January 16.

Centre asks provinces to acquire land for camps to facilitate repatriation

The Safron ministry, which oversees matters associated with Afghan nationals living in the country, has also asked the provincial government to make efforts to restrict the movement of refugees to their designated camps.

Earlier, a meeting held at the Safron ministry on January 6 had discussed a proposal to conduct temporary registration of undocumented Afghan nationals through the National Database Registration Authority across the country.

The government has renewed Proof of Registration (PoR) cards of 1.6 million Afghan refugees and validated their stay in Pakistan until December 2015.

Majority of these refugees live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The government has repeatedly said the stay of registered refugees in the country will not extended beyond 2015.

Sources in the provincial secretariat said establishing new camps along the border was not feasible and that instead of establishing new camps, the government should send refugees to their country after December 2015.

“This is an unwise move, which is also unfeasible financially as well as administratively,” said a senior official concerned.

The official said refugee camps were closed down in Fata in 2005 for security reasons and that now they (Afghans) were sent back again to the tribal areas, which lacked stability due to militancy.

Officials said the relocation of 1.6 million registered Afghans to new camps would cost around Rs20 billion.

They suggested that instead of spending billions of rupees on putting up new camps and providing allied facilities there, the government should invest the money in the repatriation of refugees.

“The establishment of new camps require thousands of kanal of lands,” he said.

The Safron ministry’s letter said the provincial governments should come up with an action plan for acquiring land for new refugee camps and submit financial proposals for the shifting to designated camps of Afghan refugees living in urban areas.

The terrorist attack on the Army Public School and College Peshawar on December 16, which left 150 students and teachers dead and over 100 injured, prompted the federal government to plan the repatriation of both registered and unregistered Afghan refugees living in the country.

The police have already begun crackdown on unregistered Afghans in urban areas in Punjab, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, while the movement of registered refugees has been restricted.

The police have arrested a large number of undocumented Afghans in Peshawar and deported them to their country via Torkham checkpost.

The registered refugees have restricted their movement in Peshawar and other towns after the crackdown.

The relevant officials said the Safron ministry had also asked provinces to immediately compile the data of registered Afghan refugees about their business, hired houses, transport and properties through the excise departments. Both registered and unregistered Afghans have business across the country.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2015

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