CHITRAL, May 30: The first caravan of Afghan refugees left for their homeland after staying here for more than 22 years as they sought refuge here following the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979.

The refugees of more than 100 families are said to have departed voluntarily and on their own expense as the UNHCR did not pay them a penny in Chitral, told a source in the office of District Administrator of Afghan Refugees, adding that it was likely that the refugees might be given financial aid in Peshawar as the departing persons would enter Afghanistan through Torkham border via Peshawar.

The district Naib Nazim office is issuing permits to the families leaving Chitral.

When contacted, Naib Nazim Salim Khan told Dawn that the refugees were leaving the district in a large number as his office was receiving applications for permits in a large number daily. “Now a days I have no other official business than issuing permits to the refugees,” he said in a light vein.

A number of the elders of the repatriating families told Dawn that they were leaving the country on their own as the conditions in their own homeland had changed for better and they would be in a position to get rehabilitated there easily. A good number of them were born in Chitral and had come of age here, assimilating the local culture, and tears could be seen in their eyes.