PESHAWAR, Jan25: The State and Frontier Regions Ministry (Safron) has laid off 172 employees of various grades in the Afghan commissionerate, Peshawar, with a view to reducing its expenditures, officials said.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had asked the ministry to curtail staff in the commissionerate, following a shortfall in funds. The agency had already sacked its 160 workers in Pakistan in Dec 2003.

An official told Dawn that a joint commission, comprising the ministry of Safron, the UNHCR and chief commissioner refugees, at a meeting in Islamabad had decided to retrench additional staff following a shortfall in funds from the foreign donors.

The sacked employees include administrators refugee villages, project directors health, social welfare section, education cell and 99 security personnel in various refugee camps of the NWFP and Fata.

A source said that more employees would be terminated in the next few days. Some posts in various sections of the Afghan commissionerate including deputy project directors were also abolished. Project director repatriation Abdul Hafiz Khan had been sacked on health grounds, officials said.

These laid-off employees were appointed on contract after Sept 11 terrorist act when a large number of displaced Afghans left their homeland and crossed into Pakistan. The commissionerate had also decreased the number of registered refugee camps in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to 50 camps.

In a related move, the provincial government did not extend the contract of the commissioner Afghan refugees, Peshawar, Brig Mushtaq Alizai. The government has directed Home Secretary Abdul Karim Qasuria to assume additional charge of the commissionerate.