PESHAWAR, Dec 24: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has planned to shift relief items from Peshawar and Quetta to Afghanistan to facilitate the internally-displaced people.
Sources in the UNHCR informed Dawn here on Monday that relief goods including 40,000 tents, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, quilts and medicines would be shifted to Afghanistan.
They said the relief items to be moved from the UNHCR warehouses in Pakistan would facilitate around 300,000 people, displaced due to fighting and US-led coalition airstrikes.
The UNHCR had stored these relief goods to meet the requirements of fresh influx of refugees. After the Sept 11 attacks in the United States, the UNHCR and other relief agencies estimated that around one million people would cross into Pakistan and other neighbouring countries as a result of the US airstrikes on Afghanistan.
The sources, however, said that relief goods would not be shifted to Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat and other cities, unless law and order situation improved in Afghanistan. “Security is our main concern, particularly road safety,” said an official.
The sources said that with the political developments in Afghanistan, refugees were returning on their own, while the UNHCR was also preparing a repatriation plan.
They said repatriation process was likely to be started by the end of March 2002. The process, however, has been linked with political stability in Afghanistan, they added.
NGOS MOOT: The Democratic Party of Japan will organize a conference of NGOs on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, at a local hotel on Wednesday.
It will focus on cooperation between NGOs working in Pakistan and Afghanistan, for the purpose, and facilitate an exchange of ideas and experiences, which will be helpful in rebuilding the war-torn country.
The Japanese government has sought proposals from NGOs who may be interested in this venture.
It has identified several areas for NGOs’activities: conflict resolution, rehabilitation, job creation, boosting agriculture, removing landmines, imparting education, etc.