SIALKOT, Sept 28: The district government will soon conduct a detailed survey of the Afghan refugees living under its jurisdiction for their early repatriation to their country.

At a meeting held here on Thursday, District Nazim Muhammad Akmal Cheema said in accordance with federal government’s repatriation policy on Afghan refugees, a multi-phased survey would be conducted in all the four tehsils (Sialkot ,Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur) of the district at union council level to collect complete data in this regard.

Cheema said the survey would be conducted in collaboration with the UC nazims, naib-nazims, councillors and the revenue officials concerned, while the police would also be asked to assist the task.

The district nazim said special teams would conduct door-to-door survey for collecting accurate data to facilitate the repatriation process.

The meeting was told that only 379 Afghan refugee families had been living in the district. However, the nazim expressed dissatisfaction over this figure. He was of the view that the number could be much larger than that.

The meeting was also told that most of the refugees living in the district had now got Pakistani passports and identity cards.

The nazim sought a detailed report on the issue from the officials concerned.