Relocation of refugees postponed

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday postponed the relocation of refugees from the makeshift Jalozai camp to a new camp in the tribal area of the Bajaur Agency, both camps being in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The announcement came after the Pakistani authorities called for a suspension.

"The relocation has been suspended indefinitely," the UNHCR spokesman in Islamabad, Yusuf Hassan, told IRIN. "But we would like them to be moved as quickly as possible, as [the holy Muslim month of] Ramadan and the winter are approaching, and they need to be in a place where they can be fully assisted," he added. There are about 50,000 Afghans in Jalozai, with more fleeing the fighting and bombing in their homeland arriving almost every day.

Hassan explained that the Pakistani authorities had asked for the delay in the relocation, and had said that officials would meet agency representatives later in the week; however, he was unable to elaborate on why the suspension had been called for.

The agreement to move the refugees had been arrived at earlier between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, he said. A Pakistani spokesman told IRIN that there were some "concerns that needed to be ironed out", but would not give any details of what these were.

UNHCR has identified about 30 sites in Pakistan for Afghan refugees fleeing the US-led air strikes. An estimated one million refugees are expected in the country in a worst-case scenario, according to the refugee agency. About nine of the sites are in the NWFP, but they have been criticised as being unsuitable due to insecurity.

Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) welcomed the suspension. "Given that the services are not ready at the camp in Bajaur - for example there are not enough latrines - we think this move is prudent," MSF's head of mission in Pakistan, Tim Pitt, told IRIN.

He added that the priority should be to leave the refugees where they were for the winter, as they would be better prepared for the cold weather, and to move them in the spring next year. "We feel that this would be a more humane way of approaching the relocation," he said.

Pitt also raised the issue of security, saying the ethnic mix of refugees in Jalozai would clash with those at the camp site in the Bajaur Agency. "The main ethnic group at the village site are Pashtuns [the group to which most of the Taliban belong], but there are many Tajik and Uzbek refugees in Jalozai who could be moved there," he said.

Meanwhile, in Jalozai, some refugees have also expressed concerns for their safety in the event of their being moved. "We have been told that refugees are being moved to the tribal areas, and we don't want to go," a father of seven, Hajibaba, told IRIN on Wednesday. "We are concerned about what will happen to us there, as we may not be accepted by other villagers," he added.

Hajibaba has been living at Jalozai for the past 11 months. He said there was a community spirit there now, but still a lack of basic necessities. "We want to live in a place where there is peace and we can get something to eat," he said.

However, Hassan noted that at least 400 refugees had registered to be moved from Jalozai.

About 130,000 refugees are said to have moved into Pakistan since the US-led attacks started, according to UNHCR. However, it has been difficult to track them down, as many have crossed unofficially.

An estimated 10,000 of the newly arrived Afghans are believed to be living in existing camps in Peshawar, the capital of the NWFP. Thousands of others are staying in and around Peshawar city, usually with relatives. Conditions are particularly difficult for refugees in rented accommodation, due to price increases of some 40 percent.

New arrivals at Jalozai told IRIN about the terrible conditions they had left behind in Afghanistan. A widow and mother of two, Banu Bibi, said she had arrived from the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad just five days ago. She told of how the air strikes had destroyed many buildings, badly frightening her and her children. This had prompted them to flee for their lives. Now living in a small tent made from a plastic sheet, she was knitting hats for sale in the market, thereby earning 15 cents a day - not even enough to buy some bread.

UNHCR has already moved refugees who have crossed into the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan. However, provincial authorities have reportedly insisted that more than 3,000 Afghans at the Killi Faizo temporary camp be relocated in one group to the newly established Roghani camp, about 16 km away. But UNHCR has said that Roghani lacks sufficient latrines for such a large group to be transferred overnight.

During the first two days of the operation, more than 640 refugees were shifted to Roghani camp, where UNHCR and its main partners, Concern, Oxfam, MSF and Islamic Relief have been erecting tents and establishing services.

Pakistan has been reluctant to allow in this latest wave of refugees, saying it was already home to more than two million Afghans and could no longer cope with the burden. However, Islamabad has said it will accept those with official documents, and the vulnerable - primarily women and children.