Pakistan may set up refugee camps near Durand Line

KABUL for Afghan refugees ahead of their repatriation at the end of the current year, a report said on Sunday.

Provincial authorities had been instructed to acquire land at suitable locations near the border for establishing new camps for refugees to facilitate their repatriation after December 2015.

Dawn reported the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions had recently circulated a letter in this regard to the chief secretaries of the four provinces and Afghan commissionerates.

The ministry also directed the provincial governments to make efforts to confine the movement of refugees to the designated camps.

The authorities already renewed Proof of Registration (PoR) cards of 1.6 million Afghan refugees and thereby legalised their stay in Pakistan until December 2015.

But authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where most of the refugees are living, believe that establishing new camps near the border was not feasible.

PAN Monitor/mud

Visits: 3