KOHAT, July 31: The interior ministry has convened a meeting on Monday to devise a strategy to check involvement of Afghan refugees in crimes and terrorist activities. The meeting is aimed at compiling data about suspected people residing in the camps in NWFP and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, an official said on Sunday.

The decision came after reports that some pro-Taliban groups living here in were planning to disrupt the forthcoming general elections and terrorist activities in Afghanistan and malign Pakistan where madressahs had already been accused of fanning extremism and hatred against the West.

The meeting is also aimed at saving the government from embarrassment which it faced after the London and Egypt bomb blasts in which a British national of Pakistani origin was accused of attending a madressah in Pakistan.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao will preside over the meeting at the interior ministry and discuss repatriation of refugees and request the UNHCR to shift them to camps inside Afghanistan.

The government had planned to take up the issue of early repatriation of refugees back because they had become a burden on the local economy after all foreign aid was stopped three years ago, the sources said.

It has been suggested to hold leaders and maliks of the refugee camps responsible in case anyone under their control was found involved in criminal and terrorist activities.