Quaid-e-Azam University Road, Diplomatic Enclave 2, G-4Islamabad, Pakistan P.O.Box # 1263
Tel: +92 51-2829502-6 ext. 2421/2428 Fax # +92-51-227-7683

FATA refugee camps to close

August 04, 2005

PESHAWAR, 04 August (UNHCR) -The government of Pakistan has informed Afghans in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that all remaining refugee camps in Bajaur and Kurram Agency will be closed on 31 August, with the residents being offered a choice of voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan.

The announcement is based on a decision by the government last year to close refugee camps in FATA due to security concerns.

The UN Refugee Agency will assist and facilitate Afghans opting for voluntary repatriation from the area. Afghans will also be informed about special registration procedures that will be implemented to ease the process for those seeking to repatriate.

The dates for the FATA closures were agreed upon in a meeting in the office of the Home Secretary NWFP in Peshawar on Thursday. The Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Department Islamabad chaired the meeting while Home Secretary- NWFP, Commissioner Afghan Refugees Department-NWFP, Political Agent Kurram Agency, Assistant Political Agent Bajuar Agency, Additional Secretary FATA and UNHCR Representative attended the meeting.

All Afghan returnees from Pakistan get a grant of $ 3-30 to cover transportation costs and a $12 per person grant to help in re-integration in Afghanistan.

The closing of the remaining camps in FATA by the government follows the closure of camps in two agencies of FATA: camps in South Waziristan were closed last year and camps in North Waziristan closed at the end of June this year. Most of the more than 30,000 residents of North Waziristan camps chose to return home. There are about 105,000 residents in the 32 remaining camps of FATA.

In an earlier announcement this year the government decided to close two refugee camps in Balochistan Province: Jungle Pir Alizai on 31 July and in Girdi Jungle on 31 August with the residents being given the choice of voluntary repatriation.

In 2004 government of Pakistan closed all the camps that were established to house the influx of refugees who fled the 2001 war that unseated the Taliban regime in Kabul. The closures went ahead smoothly with most of the camp population choosing the option of voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan. No untoward incident was reported during the process.

The camps now being closed were established early in the refugee crisis that was triggered by the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The camp closings also reflect an ongoing policy of consolidation as Afghans continue to repatriate and is part of the normal voluntary process. More than 217,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan this year under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme, bringing the total since the start of the operation in 2002 to more than 2.5 million.