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PESHAWAR, May 27: Despite the centre’s directives, the NWFP government has yet to initiate action against illegal Afghans living in camps, urban areas of Peshawar district and other parts of the province.
Sources said that after completion of the registration process of refugees in February, the federal interior ministry had directed the provincial government to take action against illegal Afghans under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and deport them to their country.
Afghan Refugees’ commissioner Nasir Azam said that roughly over 50,000 Afghan nationals were living only in the Peshawar city without legal documents and an unspecified number of Afghans daily came to Pakistan via the Torkham checkpoint and other routes.
The government had asked Afghans without Proof of Registration cards to leave the country by April 15.
About 2,153,088 Afghans have been registered across the country by the government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Senior functionaries of the provincial government said action against illegal Afghans was on the cards, but the prevailing law and order situation was hampering the plan.
“Our police force has already stretched due to the law and order situation, so the government has delayed the action (against illegal Afghans),” said city police chief Abdul Majeed Marwat. He said the government would start a drive against illegal Afghans at an appropriate time.
KACHA GARHI CAMP: The welfare committee of the Kacha Garhi refugee camp, Peshawar, has asked the government to halt demolition of houses and forced evacuation of Afghans from the camp.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, committee head Dost Mohammad said paramilitary forces and security staff of the Afghan Commissionerate had laid a siege around the camp and launched an operation.
He said the government had announced that there would be no forced repatriation of refugees, but inhabitants of the camp had been asked to leave the site. The government has announced that the camp housing 60,000 Afghans will be closed by the end of June.
Mr Dost Mohammad said paramilitary forces had demolished over 100 shops in the camp and movement of the residents had been restricted. He complained that the Afghan Commissionerate and the UNHCR had backed out from their commitment to relocate residents of the camp to Dir and Chitral districts.
Members of the committee warned that they would not be responsible for any eventuality if the government continued forced evacuation from the camp.
