PESHAWAR, May 2: The government has asked refugees of the Kacha Garhi camp to leave the settlement immediately, rejecting their plea to allow them to live there for some more time, sources said. They said that the secretary ministry of state and frontier regions (Safron) and chief commissioner refugees informed a 10-member delegation of the Kacha Garhi camp about the government’s decision at a meeting on Tuesday.

An elder of the camp dwellers, Haji Dost Mohammad, said that the secretary Safron told elders of the camp that the government would not give them extension and asked them to leave the settlement as soon as possible.

He said the NWFP governor, the chief minister and the corps commander would meet in Peshawar on May 10 to take a final decision regarding future of the camp. A portion of the camp belongs to the army.

The government had given one month time to the refugees to vacate the settlement by April 30, but they refused to follow the orders.

“The authorities have already withdrawn all basic facilities from the camp. Only Saudi Red Crescent Society is operating its basic health unit here,” Dost Mohammad said.

10,500 Afghan families, majority of them belonging to Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, had been living in the Kacha Garhi camp. Sources said that the UN refugee agency have already closed its facilities in the camp.

A handout issued here said that federal secretary Safron met Chief Secretary NWFP Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi and discussed issues relating to repatriation of Afghan refugees. Inspector General Police and Secretary Home were also present.

It was decided that the provincial government would facilitate voluntary return of refugees as per schedule.

It was further decided that home secretary would initiate modalities for their repatriation in collaboration with the staff of UNHCR.