ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: Pakistan has once again refused to open its borders with Afghanistan to accept more Afghan refugees and decided to stick to the policy of allowing entry to only vulnerable refugees.

Speaking at his maiden news briefing here on Friday, the recently-appointed chief commissioner for Afghan Refugees, Syed Asif Shah, said an estimated danger of a huge influx of refugees had been averted by following the policy of ensuring food security inside Afghanistan and encouraging national and international donors to set up and maintain camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Much of the credit of that low turnout of the refugees, he said, went to the World Food Programme (WFP), which had promptly fulfilled its obligation of transporting about 52,000 tonnes wheat to Afghanistan every month.

He said the unwillingness of the government to accept more refugees was based on a bitter experience in 1995 when the world community had left over three million Afghan refugees at the meagre resources of Pakistan.

The refugee commissioner said that about 130,000 Afghans had arrived in the country (70,000 in the NWFP and 60,000 in Balochistan) in the aftermath of the US-led air strikes on the war-torn country, while the government, in collaboration with international bodies, like the UNHCR, had arranged to accommodate 300,000 refugees.

The government and UN relief agencies had earlier estimated an exodus of about one million people from Afghanistan, but the number had been contained due to the coordinated efforts taken under a three-pronged strategy — food security inside Afghanistan, establishment of camps for IDPs and setting up of for EDPs in FATA and near border areas in Balochistan, he added.

According to the official, as the UN bodies have expressed inability to establish camps for the IDPs, the government has started encouraging some national relief organizations, including the Pakistan Medical Association, the Edhi Foundation and PRCS, to take an initiative and coordinate efforts for establishing camps inside Afghanistan across Torkham and Chaman areas.

Under a plan of accommodating externally displaced persons (EDP), the government, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has established eight camps —five in the NWFP and three in Balochistan.

The process of shifting refugees from the Jalozai camp to Bajawar has already begun and some 1,307 refugees have been shifted to Peshawar and another 4,974 people to Balochistan.