ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Pakistan has stopped the pre-registration of Afghan men aged 25 to 40 years at the Killi Faizo refugee camp, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said here on Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, UNHCR spokesperson Yusuf Hasan said the decision was taken by the interior ministry officials. “The officials suspended the pre-registration of vulnerable Afghan refugees at the Killi Faizo staging post near Chaman.” This follows the authorities’ refusal to allow the pre-registration of men aged between 25 and 40 years on Saturday, he said.

The spokesperson said the UNHCR was receiving a weekly average of 3,500 to 4,000 refugees through the Chaman border. An average 550 vulnerable refugee were being admitted and registered daily in Killi Faizo, he said.

According to the UNHCR spokesperson, the development is a matter of concern, particularly in light of the deteriorating security conditions in southern Afghanistan, where the majority of the Afghans seeking asylum in Balochistan originate from.

About border crossings into Pakistan, Mr Hasan said in the NWFP the number of people crossing the border had dropped from a daily rate of 4,500 persons to 1,000 since the fall of Kabul and Jalalabad. “At the same time, the movement of Afghans from Pakistan to Afghanistan at the Torkham crossing point has reached a record of 2,500 persons a day.”

Voicing concern over the plight of thousands of civilians in southern Afghanistan following reports of fighting there, the spokesperson said the UNHCR feared that more people were going to be displaced and many more might be forced to flee into the neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan. “We are particularly concerned about the plight of people who have been displaced on more than one occasion and who are now cut off from any assistance.”

He said conditions in Spin Boldak camp, which has an estimated 60,000 internally displaced people, are poor and deteriorating rapidly. He said the refugees feared forcible recruitment by the Taliban.

However, he said, it was unclear how many of those persons were returning refugees.