By Correspondent
HARIPUR: Deputy Commissioner Haripur Waseem Ahmed has said that district administration was making all out efforts to facilitate hassle free voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees to their native country as the deadline fixed by the federal government has come to end on August 30. This he said while talking to members of journalists here on Monday.
“We have assured them of respecting their cultural norms together with making their journey to Torkham border hassle free and in a respectful manner”, he said adding that he personally visited the Mashrans (tribal elders) with DPO Haripur Farhan Khan exhorting them to wind up and move to their homeland as the government has not given any extension to their stay in Pakistan this time around. He said that he asked them to vacate the camps and those of private dwellings without wasting time and the district administration would utilize available resources to make their repatriation easy and in a dignified manner.
He said that on the complaint of overcharging by transporters a committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (general) and comprising officials of Motor Vehicle Examiner, Traffic personnel and officials of Afghan Directorate, has been constituted to ensure that the repatriating families of Afghans were not fleeced by the truckers.
To a question the DC Haripur said that after the expiry of the deadline of August 30, all the Afghan refugees having no visa under the government’s law, have turned out to be illegally staying individuals. “The district administration is looking toward the federal government for next orders”, he said adding that he was expecting that they would vacate the camps and private houses and businesses without further delay.
He said that over 140 committees headed by Assistant Commissioners of all three Tehsils have been constituted comprising village council/neighborhood council secretaries, halqa patwari, police and special branch personnel, with the task to visit each and every family of the Afghan refugees across the district convincing them to leave the area voluntarily. He said that the committees were still busy knocking at their doors and urging them to move to their native land in a respectful and peaceful manner. “If you want to return to Pakistan where you lived for over four decades, adopt the procedure and re-enter using the legal method of securing a visa”, the committees advised them during the home visits.
About decamping of the land under the Afghan camps in line with the WHO’s guidelines, Waseem Ahmed said that the land belonging to WAPDA would be returned to the federal department while the rest would be taken over by district administration.
“We will make a plan afterward that how and for what purpose the land that remained under use of Afghan refugees for over 45 years would be used for the public welfare” he said.
To the question of investment of Afghan refugees in different businesses and renting shops and plazas in Haripur, the DC said that both sides were aware about the government’s decision of not giving any extension to Afghans this time around so whatever they did was at their own risk.
According to official statistics Haripur, which housed the second largest refugee camp in KP, has 68,000 individuals in camp areas, 13000 in surrounding private buildings and during the last five months over 500 individuals have repatriated to Afghanistan.
