ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: The Afghan refugees, who had repatriated from ‘Afghan Basti,’ located in Sector I-11, under the voluntary repatriation scheme started by the UNHCR once the Hamid Karzai government came into power and declared that the peace had been restored in the war-ravaged country, are coming back.

“Yes, they are coming back. We don’t have the exact number of such families or individuals, who are trying to come back and settle here but lately they are being spotted quite frequently who try to sneak in and take a foothold in this settlement from where they have gone under the voluntary scheme,” Syed Mustafain Kazmi, the director enforcement of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) told Dawn .

“But, we are keeping a close check through an efficient monitoring system enacted in ‘Afghan Basti’ and such individuals or families, which are detected almost immediately (within 24 hours), are prevented to encroach upon the public land once again,” he said.

He further said the situation was explained to the officials concerned in the ministry of interior and other offices concerned in Islamabad. However, he was unable to explain as to where such individuals or families go after they were prevented from re-settling in the ‘Afghan Basti’.

“We are doing our best to check their presence and movement in the ICT limits and try to prevent them settling down here. But we are not really aware where they head to once they are denied permission to settle down in any part of the federal capital,” the Director Enforcement said.

“The repatriation started on May 16 and continued till September 14 without a break during which as many as 7,500 families repatriated to Afghanistan and their abodes were demolished by the CDA Enforcement staff. The total number of individuals repatriated comes to around 55 to 60 thousand,” Mr Kazmi said. He said that now there are an estimated 15 to 20 thousand Afghan refugees still settled in this ‘Afghan Basti’ while the rest are the Pakistanis.

When this repatriation of Afghan refugees started under voluntary scheme sponsored by the UNHCR and coordinated by the CDA from Afghan Basti in sector I-11/1 and I-11/2, the hopes of the allottees of residential and commercial plots in this sector were revived.

The whole sector was allotted, mostly to the low-grade employees of the CDA as well as a part of these sectors was disposed off through open auction. The people, who were allotted plots have been demanding for a long time to grant them possession of their plots, enabling them to start construction of their homes and commercial buildings. But, because of the presence of these Afghan refugees, who were settled in this area for the last over 20 years, always prevented any action on such demands. Many of the allottees of plots in these sectors have even approached courts of law and the Federal Ombudsman for relief and such cases could still be pending a decision. When the repatriation started on May 16, 2002 a large number of Afghan families settled here decided to return and were assisted by the UNHCR as well as the CDA to get on their way back home in Afghanistan. But this process came to an abrupt halt on September 14 when the reports started coming back from inside Afghanistan that the situation was not as peaceful as was being projected and a large number of people who went back home in Afghanistan started returning here. Despite the best efforts to prevent the re-entry of such Afghan refugees into Pakistan, many somehow manage to infiltrate and even reach Islamabad where they try to re-settle in this ‘Afghan Basti’. So far, the CDA is preventing them but unless there is a strict check by the government at a large scale, there is every chance that a new ‘Afghan Basti’ might spring up in some isolated part of the federal capital or in some other city.