ISLAMABAD, 2 February (IRIN) - Adamant
that no more Afghan refugees be admitted into the country, the Governor
of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Thursday defended
Pakistan's position with regard to the latest influx of Afghan refugees,
stating UNHCR had no right to ask Islamabad to lift the ban on entry of
refugees. He added, however, that Pakistan would be happy to provide logistical
support to all aid agencies in bringing relief aid from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
"It is not proper for UNHCR to
ask Pakistan to continually allow more refugees into the county,"
NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah told IRIN. "We kept begging
them not to and now with this latest influx they want to register these
people despite the fact that themselves stopped registering after 1995."
Pakistan has been insistent for UNHCR to assist these people within Afghanistan which is outside the agency's UN mandate.
In an effort to deal with the crisis, the agency is negotiating with government officials to reopen previously closed refugee camps to provide assistance to recent arrivals.
According to UNHCR on Friday, Pakistan has received over 170,000 Afghans since September, making it the largest influx of refugees into the country since the fall of the Afghan capital Kabul to the Taliban Islamic movement in September 1996. Pakistan officials estimate there are already some two million Afghans in the country, a fact which has put a tremendous strain on the Pakistan economy which already suffers from chronic unemployment and extreme poverty.
Calling these people economic benefit seekers and not refugees, as there was no war in Afghanistan, the governor said. "The people that have just come here are not refugees at all and we do not accept them as such. The compulsion to come here is food, not war and the UN should be organising that assistance within Afghanistan, not here." He went on to say: "The UN should facilitate the movement of these people back to Afghanistan."
With regard to the current border situation for Afghans, the governor said: "The border is neither officially closed, nor open. Any Afghan refugee that is properly registered and possesses a valid refugee card can cross the border as much as he wants." Moreover, he justified the government's recent decision to deport those Afghans that were not properly registered, saying: "There are many people that are sneaking across the border and have no proper documentation whatsoever. To date between 200 and 300 Afghans have been deported under this policy thus far." Asked if the policy would continue, he said emphatically - " absolutely."
Meanwhile, with regard to Pakistan's hardening stance on accepting any more Afghans into the country, UN coordinator for Afghanistan Eric de Mul in Islamabad said in a press conference on Friday that he was "concerned", adding, however, "I'm not going to discuss what the Pakistani authorities can or can not do."
[ENDS]
[IRIN-Asia: Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 480-4 Fax: +92-51-2211450 or +92-51-2211475 e-mail: irin-asia@undpafg.org.pk]
[This item is delivered in the "asia-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001