KOHAT: A large number of protesters belonging to Junglekhel here on Saturday demanded eviction of Afghan refugees from camps located in the city, saying that they had occupied their precious land and were running businesses in local bazaars.

The protesters, led by jirga leader Ayaz Khan, gathered at Gullo Bera and blocked the old Peshawar road. They asked the government that they were fed up with the presence of Afghan refugees on their property. They were holding placards inscribed with slogans of ‘go Afghans go’.

Moreover, they said that the refugees had occupied Ublan and Ghamkol camps 1, 2 and 3 in the area which belonged to them and they were being paid a paltry sum of money in return.

Call for ban on Afghans doing business in Kohat’s bazaars

The protesters also asked the government to make early arrangements for expulsion of the Afghan refugees from Junglekhel, Lachi tehsil, Togh Bala and Jawaki and put ban on their doing business in the local bazaars.

Talking to this scribe, Ayaz Khan claimed that the Afghan traders brought drug money into Kohat and rented shops at exorbitant rates ranging from Rs30,000 to 50,000 a month, which were out of the reach of common traders.

He elaborated that first they occupied temporary floors in front of the shops for Rs500 a day and then after knowing that the owner had leased it out for Rs15,000 they approached and offered him double or triple the price and were able to get the shops.

That left the local businessman jobless and without the source of their livelihood, he said.

The jirga leader regretted that due to the apologetic stance taken by the government the refugees had been given extensions for the last over a decade, claiming that in most of the cases they had got permanent residences, shops and computerised identity cards.

When contacted, an elder of Afghan refugees, Malik Awal Khan, told this correspondent on phone that he had been deeply hurt after learning that a protest had been held against them.

He said that even if they were pushed forcibly to go back they could not because 90 per cent of their homeland was in ruins and in control of militants. He requested the people to have mercy on them and adopt humanitarian attitude towards them.

He said that there were eight camps in Kohat district, but the problem was only in Junglekhel where the land occupied by them was a collective property and the local owners had a dispute over the distribution of revenue paid to them by the Afghan commissionerate.

He said that five camps were situated outside that area where they faced no trouble.

A UNHCR official, Mataaullah Changezi, made it clear in a chat with this scribe that according to the tripartite agreement of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, of which UNHCR was an observer, no refugee could be expelled by force.

However, voluntary repatriation is encouraged and families do come for registration in Kohat office.

He said that a tripartite meeting was expected in October to finalise a plan for the repatriation after expiry of their stay in Dec 2017.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017