PESHAWAR, July 3: Despite the presence of a number of police pickets in and around the Kacha Garhi camp and deployment of paramilitary troops there, Afghan refugees have illegally started moving to other areas ahead of the camp’s closure, according to official sources.

The government had announced last year that it would close down the Kacha Garhi refugee camp by June 30, but later the deadline was extended to July 15.

The government had given two options to refugees living in the camp: either return to Afghanistan or move to proper sites in the Chitral and Upper Dir districts.

The sources said that capital city police and other authorities had been informed of the resettlement of refugees from the Kacha Garhi camp to other places in Peshawar district.

“We have reported to the police department that refugees of the Kacha Garhi camp are vanishing into different localities of the provincial capital and camps in surrounding areas instead of going back to Afghanistan or relocation to other areas designated (for the purpose) by the government,” a source said.

The source indicated that the entire exercise of the closure of the camp and relocation of the refugees to other places could become futile, if the illegal resettlement of the refugees was not halted immediately.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is financing and facilitating the voluntary repatriation programme of Afghan refugees.

A security official said that about 3,000 Afghan families, out of a total of 10,000 residing in the camp, had left the place since June 15, adding that police had demolished the houses vacated by them.

He acknowledged that a large number of families had slipped to other areas through unfrequented routes, despite the presence of police and the Frontier Constabulary personnel in the area.

The official said that a large number of local people had rented their houses out to Afghan families in the city in clear violation of the provincial government’s directives. The government had recently asked property owners and estate dealers not to rent out houses to Afghans.

Meanwhile, the UN agency said on Tuesday that voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees had been resumed from the NWFP.

A press release said that the repatriation operation had been suspended last week after heavy rains and flash floods damaged several bridges on the Peshawar-Torkham highway.