CHARSADDA: About 18 unregistered Afghan families vacated their houses in Aisha Kor, Badi Kor and Munda camp in Shabqadar tehsil after expiry of the deadline set for them by the security forces and police to leave the area, sources said.

They said that 15 families from Badi Kor and Aisha Kor localities and five families from Munda refugee camp had left for Afghanistan through Torkham.

The security and police personnel had earlier warned all the Afghans staying without any legal documents through loudspeakers to leave Shabqadar tehsil till July 15 or face action under 14 Foreigners’ Act.

Authorities have warned all refugees staying illegally to leave the area

Thousands of illegal refugees have been living in the limits of Shabqadar, Saro Kallay and Khwajawas police stations since long.

The sources said that over 100 unregistered refugee families were residing in Munda camp only.

They said that thousands of other Afghans were living illegally in rented houses outside the camp in Shabqadar.

They said that the crackdown was delayed for a couple of days as the security forces were engaged in an operation in Warsak area near Peshawar against unregistered Afghans.

Local residents said that the Afghan families had been requesting the authorities for extension in the deadline.

POLICE REFORMS: Communities have a critical role to play in ensuring a society free of crime with the cooperation of police, said DSP Nazir Khan while speaking at a consultative meeting of the working group on police reforms.

The meeting in Charsadda was part of the project “Ulasi Police” an awareness and advocacy campaign undertaken by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) as part of USAID Small Grants and Ambassadors’ Fund Programme.

The endeavour aims at bridging the trust deficit between the public and police and helping the police to become a community-focused force.

The police officials as part of the working group said that a number of reforms had been undertaken in KP police. They claimed that Police Access Service (PAS) had been quite instrumental so far in providing speedy justice to citizens.

The community members also endorsed the need to increase awareness of reforms among people.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2016