QUETTA, June 3: The federal government has decided to abandon Afghan refugee camp in “waiting area” at Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman and has asked the refugees to vacate the area within two months.
At present, over 18,000 refugees, belonging to northern and eastern Afghanistan, are living in the camp called “waiting area” close to the border, official sources told Dawn on Monday.
“A deadline of two months up to the end of July next has been set up for refugees to leave this place,” sources said, and added that a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held in Chaman on Saturday last.
However, refugees living in the camp requested the government and the UNHCR not to abandon the camp and not to shift them anywhere else.
The Secretary of State and Frontier Region, Kashmir and Northern Areas, Mr Javed Ashraf, visited the border area and held a meeting with the representatives of the Afghan refugees living in the camp.
The Director of the Afghanistan Ministry of Repatriation , Haji Agha, Afghan Refugee Organization Chief Commissioner Asif Khan, UNHCR Quetta sub-office chief Kwame Boafo and senior officials of Chaman administration also participated in the meeting.
The meeting discussed the shifting plan of the refugees from the waiting area camp in detail and observed that for ensuring security and peace at the border with Afghanistan the shifting of the refugees was necessary.
Representatives of the Afghan refugees were informed during the meeting about the decision of the federal government and were asked to shift to Zari Dasht refugee camp established by the Afghan government and the UNHCR near Kandahar. Over 60,000 refugees could be accommodated in that camp whereas 30,000 were presently living there.
“This is the decision of the Pakistan government and refugees have to vacate the waiting area camp,” Mr Ashraf told the meeting.
Haji Agha also supported the Pakistan government decision and asked the refugees to return home for taking part in the reconstruction of their country.
“The UNHCR would offer an special package to the refugees who would return to their origin in Afghanistan,” Mr Ashraf informed the refugees, and added that Mr Asif Khan would hold a meeting with refugees after few days and would announce the special package.
However, he said that no refugee would be sent back forcibly under the tripartite agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR in December last. Those who could not be shifted to Afghanistan would be accommodated in Mohammad Kahil refugee camp, some 80km west of Quetta.
The representatives of the refugees, however, requested that they should not be shifted from the waiting area camp as normalcy in their country had not been restored and, hence, it was not possible for them to go back home.
“We came to Pakistan after Taliban government as Uzbek warlords forced us to leave the country,” Haji Mohammad Ismail, a refugee from the Afghan province, Faryab, told the meeting. “We also wanted to go back to our areas instead of shifting to Zari Dasht refugee camp in Kandahar, but the situation has not improved so far and we feel threat to our lives,” he said.
He further said that they were ready to live without the UNHCR food and other assistance in the waiting area camp. He requested the federal government to change its decision.
Another refugee, 60-year-old Sobat Khan, who represented Kochis living in the waiting area camp, informed the meeting that they had lost all their livestock and had nothing in Afghanistan for earning livelihood. “Our areas are still disturbed and we have no confidence in the Afghan government regarding our security,” he remarked. “Whenever peace and order is restored we will go back to our home but at present it is not possible for us,” Mr Sobat told the meeting.
Haji Agha, who travelled from Kandahar to Chaman with 20 Afghan security guards, conceded that normalcy in Afghanistan had not yet been fully restored. Yet, he advised the waiting area camp refugees to go back to their places of origin where development process had been launched and with their return they would be able to play their role in the development.
He said if they were not ready to go back to their areas, they should shift to Zari Dasht refugee camp where they would get all help and assistance from the Afghan government and the UNHCR.