PESHAWAR, March 7: The Afghan government has sought permission from Pakistan for registration of Afghan refugee voters for the forthcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan, sources said.

An official of the Afghan Constitution Drafting Commission (ACDC) here said on Sunday that the Afghan government had sent a request to the ministry of foreign affairs through its embassy in Islamabad to permit its election commission to register refugees living in camps and urban areas as voters to enable them to exercise their vote in the next Afghan elections.

He said he had yet to receive any response in this regard. A six-member delegation, comprising officials of the Afghan election commission and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which arrived in Islamabad last week, held meetings with senior officials and representatives of the UNHCR in Peshawar.

The delegation also visited Kacha Garhi, Azakhel and Jalozai refugee camps near Peshawar and sought opinion and proposals from the refugee's elders for conducting the next presidential elections in the war-ravaged country.

Quoting the UNHCR figures, the official said, the total number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan were 2.92 million including 1.5 million in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The team would also visit various refugee camps in Balochistan and would submit its final report to the Afghan government and the UN office in Kabul. The head of the ACDC office here Haji Zahir Khan Jabarkhel told Dawn that roughly 400,000 refugees above 18 years including male and female would be registered in Pakistan.

Under Afghan constitution every Afghan above 18 years would be eligible to exercise their vote in the next election. He said after the permission from the Pakistani authorities the Afghan government would likely assign the task of voters registration to the ACDC.

Other bodies including UNAMA, UNHCR and Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees would also be involved in the registration process to ensure transparency and participation of all eligible voters, he added. Mr Jabar khel said that the UN and European Commission would provide the financial assistance for the registration.