Screening of Afghan refugees continuing in NWFP

UNHCR and government of Pakistan joint screening teams at the makeshift Jalozai site and the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have within the past week processed more than 1,000 cases of Afghans seeking protection in Pakistan week, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told journalists in Switzerland on Tuesday, 11 September. A team of 55 screeners had completed 739 cases, of which 519 cases had been accepted and 148 cases rejected, while 59 cases opted for voluntary repatriation, he said. Last week, UNHCR relocated the first Afghans accepted from the squalid Jalozai site to the better-equipped New Shamshatoo refugee camp, some 40 km from the NWFP capital, Peshawar. So far, some 1,733 Afghans have been moved. Janowski said UNHCR had provided the refugees with tents, groundsheets, jerry cans, buckets, kitchen sets, washing powder and soap. They would also receive food assistance from WFP, he added. On Monday, 10 September, the joint screening team registered another 1,530 Afghan families in Nasir Bagh, of whom 1,419 families decided to go home, while 111 families chose to seek protection in Pakistan. Since 6 August, the screeners have processed 22,559 families. Some 14,675 families have been registered and will be interviewed to determine their refugee status, while 7,884 families have opted for repatriation, according to Janowski. The UN refugee agency and the Pakistani government Commissioner for Afghan Refugees have agreed to establish 14 review teams in Jalozai and 10 in Nasir Bagh to deal with appeals and unresolved cases.