PESHAWAR, March 11: The first batch of Afghan refugees will leave for their country under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriation programme on Wednesday.

A press release issued here on Tuesday said about 200 families from Katcha Garhi camp had registered with the agency and would return to Afghanistan via Torkham checkpoint.

The UNHCR and the Afghan Commissionerate have established screening camp at Katcha Garhi on the outskirts of the provincial capital, where returnees would register their names.

The UN agency would assist the refugees seeking to repatriate with a travel grant ranging from $3 to $30 per head for those above one year of age, depending on the distance to their destination. The families would get food  assistance and other items.

All refugees over the age of 12 will have to be tested by iris scanning equipment, which detects anyone trying to undergo the test a  second time.

The UN agency has established three centres for the purpose.

Afghan Commissionerate officials said the camp that houses over 60,000 refugees would be vacated by the end of June.

The press release said the initial groups to leave Karachi and Islamabad, where most refugees live in clusters without any official camp status, were scheduled for next week.

The agency expected to begin processing refugees dispersed in other  urban areas here and in Balochistan.  

The UNHCR has planned to assist 600,000 refugees’ return from the country this year while last year 1.5 million Afghans returned to their country.