PESHAWAR, March 8: About 1.8 million Afghans are living in the NWFP and adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the just concluded census of Afghans revealed here on Tuesday.

The Population Census Organisation, which conducted the nationwide census in camps and urban areas, suggests that over 2.41 million Afghans are residing in Pakistan. The countrywide census of the Afghans was started on Feb 24 in collaboration with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR).

Officials said that the two-week-long exercise had finished in the NWFP, Fata, Punjab and Sindh while it would conclude in Balochistan in the next few days. Officials said that the final census report would be released soon following and after that the government would start registering all Afghans.

The government conducted census of the Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since Dec 1979 to produce first detailed profile of the Afghan population. The census will be followed by proposed registration of Afghans which would allow Afghans to get temporary residential and work permits.

The government had earlier estimated that over three million Afghans are living in Pakistan, while the UN agency said that 1.5 registered refugees are living here. The UNHCR said that over 2.5 million Afghans had returned to their homeland under the voluntary repatriation programme since the fall of the Taliban government.

Figures show that 1,805,817 Afghans are living in the NWFP and Fata, while the number of Afghans living in Karachi and Punjab is 1,36,000 and 200,000, respectively. In Balochistan, where census is still under way, about 400,000 Afghans have been counted so far.

In the Frontier province, Peshawar district shelters the highest number of Afghans and enumerators have listed a total of 608,653 registered and unregistered Afghans. It is followed by Nowshera district where 229,318 Afghans are living.

The Kurram Agency shelters the largest number of Afghan population in all seven agencies of Fata. It has 116,000 Afghans, South Waziristan 28,868, North Waziristan 58,196, Khyber 55,447, Mohmand 12,415, Bajaur 55,301 and Orakzai Agency hosts 3427 Afghans.