Border still officially closed but refuge may be offered

The government of Pakistan has announced that its border remains closed to Afghans without proper travel documents, but that those who manage to cross illegally will be assisted in camps, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In a situation update on Wednesday, the agency praised Pakistan's readiness to shelter large numbers of Afghans should they be forced to temporarily flee their country, the UN Department of Public Information reported. Senior government officials reiterated on Wednesday that Pakistan's border was closed to those lacking proper documentation, but that the authorities would be inclined to let in refugees if the crisis situation inside Afghanistan became untenable. Pakistan is also considering - for humanitarian reasons - allowing in the Afghans stranded in the searing heat at the Chaman border crossing in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, UNHCR stated on Wednesday. Between 10,000 and 20,000 Afghan refugees were estimated to be waiting in the area, about half at the border point, and the remainder at a bazaar nearby, the agency's spokesman, Peter Kessler, told IRIN on Wednesday. Those remaining at Chaman were mostly women with children, the sick and the elderly, because the young and able-bodied were managing to make their way into Pakistan using various, often treacherous, unofficial routes, refugees in the area told IRIN. The governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Syed Iftikhar Hussein Shah, said on Wednesday that he intended keeping the border closed because of the security threat posed by the Afghan opposition Northern Alliance, which was openly critical of Pakistan (over its support for the ruling Taliban). There was also a potential threat from Afghan refugees who opposed Islamabad's support for the American-led international coalition against terrorism, he said. The US has targeted Osama bin Laden - widely suspected of involvement in the 11 September suicide attacks on the US - and the Taliban regime, which has given him shelter, for retaliatory action. The Taliban - backed until recently by Pakistan, with which it retains its only diplomatic link - has threatened to declare a jihad, or Islamic holy war, against any country helping the US in its campaign. Pakistan, which already hosts over 1.5 million Afghan refugees, has long argued that it is already overburdened and cannot accept new population flows. However, human rights groups have emphasised "the right of refugees not to be returned to a country where their lives or freedom are threatened". Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, say Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan must reopen their borders, and provide refugees with protection. UNHCR said on Wednesday that, while understanding the extremely tense and complex situation facing the governments of countries bordering Afghanistan, including significant national security concerns, it was "nevertheless concerned that Afghan civilians are already suffering from border-closure policies across the region". As of Wednesday, it remained the official policy of Pakistan that only the holders of valid visas and travel documents would be allowed across the country's 1,600 km border with Afghanistan, Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern Areas, and States and Frontier Regions Abbas Sarfaraz Khan told journalists in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday afternoon. He added, however, that "the possibility of a large number of Afghan refugees trickling in through unfrequented routes along the long, porous border cannot be ruled out". Pakistan, in collaboration with UNHCR, had drawn up a contingency plan to accommodate (another) one million refugees, he added. "The border is closed for those without money; those with money are getting in through bribing the military", with the current rate being between 200 and 300 rupees, refugees near the border at Chaman told IRIN. Motor vehicle operators transporting people between Chaman and Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, had also been making a killing, charging up to 3,000 rupees for a journey normally costing about 500, they said. A survey team comprising UNHCR, Oxfam and a provincial government commission for Afghan refugees has been visiting the border area in Baluchistan to look at two potential refugee reception sites: a former refugee site from the 1980s at Dara, about 10 km north of Chaman, and a new site at Sirki Taleri, about 8 km east of the border crossing, Kessler said. A particular focus of this survey was on water availability at the sites (located in a barren environment), and whether that could be improved, he said. It would be examining the condition and potential of two karez - underground water channels, bringing water from the nearby mountains - one in Dara and the other in Sirki Taleri, since Baluchistan had been badly affected by the Central Asia drought of recent years, Kessler added. UNHCR is also hoping that the authorities in NWFP will follow the lead provided by Minister Khan's comments, and let women, children, and sick and elderly people cross as soon as possible. All official border crossings (including Torkham, Miran Shah, Nawa Pass, Bajar, Kurram and Alizai) remain closed to new arrivals at the moment. "If UNHCR wants camps for them [Afghan refugees], it should set them up in the border area only," Governor Syed Iftikhar Shah said on Wednesday. "If one camp contains up to 10,000 refugees, a total of 700 million Pakistani rupees will be needed to fund it for a year. Who will manage the funds for one million refugees?" he asked. The UN refugee agency and the international community generally have repeatedly stressed that Pakistan and neighbouring countries will not be left to shoulder the burden of an Afghan refugee crisis alone. Four joint UN, government and NGO survey teams left Peshawar on Wednesday to inspect potential sites for refugee camps in the six NWFP tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan, Lower Dir, Kurram, Khyber and Mohmand, according to Kessler. The teams would evaluate the suitability of some 75 sites identified by provisional authorities in terms of water and sanitation, health, access, storage capacity and security, he said. The first camps were expected to be operational within a week to 10 days, should an influx of Afghan refugees make it necessary, Kessler said.