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Officials mark surge in refugees’ repatriation from Pakistan

Officials mark surge in refugees’ repatriation from Pakistan

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19 Feb 2015 - 17:23
Officials mark surge in refugees’ repatriation from Pakistan
author avatar
19 Feb 2015 - 17:23

JALALABAD CITY (Pajhwok): Officials on Thursday recorded dramatic increase in repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan’s Peshawar city and asked the central government should provide the families with needed facilities.

Haji Ghulam Haidar Faqiri, director of Nangarhar refugees and repatriation, told Pajhwok Afghan News at least 300 Afghan refugees had returned from Pakistan after an attack on a military school in Peshawar.

About two months ago, at least 150 people were killed and 142 others wounded in an attack on a military school in Peshawar. Pakistani security forces started harassing and forcing Afghan refugees to leave the country after the incident.

Faqiri added that so far 5,400 families with only 500 of them having legal documents had returned from Pakistan. Most of the families returned belonged to eastern province but some of them are the residents of Kabul, Logar, Paktia and Paktika province, he added.

Each of the families would receive an amount of $195 to buy their needs after they registered with the government, Faqiri said.

“Currently 8,000 families live in Shaikh Mesri and Chamtali townships in Nangarhar province. But we have no more capacity for new refugees for now,” he said, adding that 3,000 acres of land had been allocated for refugees in Behsood district but work on the project was yet to be started.

The governor’s spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said there was no more capacity for returning refugees in the province and the government must take measures to provide facilities for new returnees.

“The number of returning refugees has been increasing everyday and most of them interested to live in Nangarhar. There is no extra capacity in the city as it becomes congested,” Abdulzai said.

He said that the acting governor has shared the issue with the president during a video conference last week. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has ordered relevant organs to visit Nangarhar and find solution to the refugees’ problems.

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