PESHAWAR, May 7: The NWFP government has decided that no further extension in stay would be granted to the residents of the Kacha Garhi and Jalozai refugee camps and asked them to vacate the sites within the stipulated period.

The decision was taken at a meeting here on Monday, which was presided over by Chief Minister M. Akram Khan Durrani, said a handout. The meeting took stock of the situation and several decisions were made regarding the repatriation of the unregistered Afghan nationals residing in the province.

It was decided that immediate return of the unregistered Afghans to their country would be ensured.

“Local property owners should stop renting out their residential buildings to Afghans,” the handout said.

The meeting decided that evacuation of refugees from Kacha Garhi camp in Peshawar should be completed by June 30 and from the Jalozai camp in Nowshera district by August 30.

It was also decided that residents of both the camps would not be allowed to move to any other place and they would be encouraged to go back to their country under the United Nations’ voluntary repatriation programme.

Refugees at these camps have been insisting that they will not vacate the sites due to the situation in their country, asking the government to give them an extension of three years.

The concerned authorities were directed to set up pickets around the camps to stop resettlement of outsiders there.

The chief minister informed the meeting that many Afghans, who had been repatriated, were reportedly coming back to Pakistan illegally.

He said the world community and the United Nations should create a conducive environment inside Afghanistan and ensure the provision of basic facilities for the returnees. He urged the UN to prepare a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for returnees inside Afghanistan.

Chief secretary Sahibzada Riaz Noor, home secretary Badshah Gul Wazir, provincial police officer Mohammad Sharif Virk and other senior officials attended the meeting.