Deadline for Afghan refugees repatriation extended till 18th

PARACHINAR—Pakistan has extended a deadline due to expire on Wednesday for the closure of Afghan refugee camps in a rugged tribal region as more than 100,000 refugees are still being processed for repatriation.
The government announced a plan to close the camps in the Kurram and Bajaur agencies bordering Afghanistan after expressing concern that al Qaeda-linked militants could use them as havens from which to launch attacks on both sides of the border.
It aimed to send back more than 150,000 Afghans from the camps by August 31, less than three weeks before September 18 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, the next big step in the country’s difficult path to stability. Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam, administrative head of Kurram agency, said more than 50,000 had gone back voluntarily since August 12, but about 100,000 remained. He said authorities hoped to complete the repatriation within a week.
“We will extend this deadline until the time each and every individual is repatriated to Afghanistan,” Islam told reporters in Kurram’s capital, Parachinar. “We will keep extending a day or two or three or four, as they will have to go back.” About 2.5 million Afghans have returned home from Pakistan since U.S.-led forces overthrew Afghanistan’s Taliban government in 2001, but more than three million remain.
On Monday, the U.N. refugee agency and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to give Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan more time to return home. They agreed to extend an agreement on repatriation that had been due to expire in March to December 2006, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement. The refugees in Parachinar have been living in clusters of mud-walled houses in hills surrounding the mountain town.
Refugee families could be seen demolishing their houses to retrieve logs and iron bars to take back with them. Trucks packed with refugees, including women in coverall burqas clutching children, waited to head to the border.
Islam said the repatriation decision had been taken because of worries about militant activity on both sides of the border. “We have concerns about the activities of foreign elements because of these refugees and their presence. One can not rule out their involvement in such like activities,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Afghan government said Pakistan should not put pressure on the refugees to return. “They should not be displaced by force. The return of refugees should be voluntary,” said Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman, Karim Rahimi. A large number of al Qaeda-linked militants fled to Pakistan’s tribal belt after the Taliban fell and hundreds of people have been killed in clashes in the region between security forces and militants in the past two years.
“We will extend this deadline until the time each and every individual is repatriated to Afghanistan,” Islam told reporters in Kurram’s capital, Parachinar. “We will keep extending a day or two or three or four, as they will have to go back.” About 2.5 million Afghans have returned home from Pakistan since U.S.-led forces overthrew Afghanistan’s Taliban government in 2001, but more than three million remain.
Pakistan has already closed camps in the North and South Waziristan tribal lands, where most of the fighting took place. Shahnaz Perveen, a UNHCR official in Parachinar, said the number of Afghans requesting repatriation had risen sharply since the deadline was announced. Perveen said Pakistan had given refugees the option of relocation to camps in central Punjab province but most said they preferred to go back to Afghanistan. The United Nations is giving $40-$60 to each family to assist their return.—Agencies