NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has directed the Commissioner of Afghan Refugees (CAR) to conduct a fresh survey of Afghan refugees living in their camps in different cities and localities especially in the suburbs of Peshawar so that their whereabouts/movements could be monitored effectively.
Presiding over a meeting here at the Governor House on Monday, he directed that the schedule prepared for repatriation of refugees in consultation of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees should be followed. He said that the camps of refugees, established on state land, should be taken custody of by the government, and no one should be allowed to make encroachments there.
The meeting was attended by Secretary to Governor Azmat Hanif, Special Home Secretary Tipu Muhabbat Khan, Secretary, Law and Order, FATA Abdul Qadir, and Afghan Refugees Commissioner Nasir Azam.
The Governor said that UNHCR should accept its responsibilities in the repatriation process and settlement of refugees in Afghanistan. He said that as long as the refugees were in the province, the UNHCR should provide them with food and other necessities of life.
The meeting was informed that at present about 0.798 million refugees are housed in various camps while 0.533 million are living on their own in various districts of the province. The meeting was told that since the start of repatriation process in 1988, almost one million Afghan refugees had been repatriated, out of which 0.168 million were repatriated last year.
The meeting was informed that the Kacha Garhi Camp near Peshawar had been completely closed while evacuation of eleven other camps, with of 0.252 million refugees, including the Jalozai Camp, Peshawar, would start from March and completed during the current year.
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