PESHAWAR, June 13: The law-enforcement agencies have planned a crackdown on unregistered Afghan refugees who have been residing illegally in the provincial capital and its surrounding areas, police said.

A press release issued by the department on Wednesday said that a meeting had decided to constitute five teams to carry out house-to-house search, adding that the teams would be consisted of personnel from police and Frontier Constabulary and officials of the Afghan commissionerate.Capital City Police Officer Abdul Majeed Warwat, Commissioner Afghan refugees Nasir Azam and other senior officials attended the meeting.

An official told Dawn that the search operation would be started from Hayatabad, Tajabad and Danishabad localities of the city, where a large number of illegal Afghans are residing. He said that police department would fix date for the search operation.

Officials said that about 50,000 unregistered Afghans had been residing in Peshawar.

The government has recently issued some 2.2 million Proof of Registrations cards to the Afghan people to validate their three years stay in Pakistan. The Afghans who have not obtained these cards were asked to leave the country before April 15 otherwise they would face action under the Foreigners Act.

The statement has warned property dealers against striking any deal with the illegal Afghans and asked them not to rent out houses to them.