PESHAWAR, Aug 6: The Afghan returnees suspended vehicular traffic on the Peshawar-Rawalpindi Road on Monday evening when the UNHCR stopped its repatriation work at Azakhel refugee camp, some 30km southeast of here.

The refugees were not informed of the sudden suspension of the repatriation activities and they became violent. Later, the refugees elders got the road cleared.

The Azakhel camp has been the departure point for the refugees arriving from Haripur, Mansehra and Abbottabad for the last several months. But, the UNHCR wound up its operations without giving any reason.

In a statement the UNHCR said that it had been forced to temporarily suspend the repatriation activities in Islamabad on Tuesday when a an Afghan refugee set his clothes on fire and incited a crowd to throw stones at the UN staff.

The man, whose claim for the UNHCR assistance to return to Afghanistan had been rejected on Monday because he had already received aid, was treated at a UNHCR clinic and was discharged after examination at hospital.

No staff of the United Nations or its local partner in the repatriation programme, the Society for Human Rights and Prisoner Aid, were injured, but several window-panes were smashed by stones thrown by the protesters.

The refugee set himself on fire after pouring kerosene oil on his clothes. He later doused the flames in water and then shouted at the crowd, who began hurling stones at the UN staff. The UNHCR announced that it would resume the work on Wednesday.

The UNHCR said that claims for monetary assistance of more than one fifth of Afghan returnees had been rejected after they were found to be fake.