UNHCR reassured of no more deportations

UNHCR resumed its programme of screening Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) this week, in response to assurances by Pakistani officials that no more deportations would take place during the process. “We have reassured UNHCR that there will be no such deportations in the future,” the joint secretary of Pakistani government’s State and Frontiers Regions department, Sahibzada Mohammed Khan, told IRIN on Tuesday. UNHCR had suspended the programme after 28 Afghan families were deported from the makeshift Jalozai refugee camp in the NWFP to Afghanistan by the provincial authorities in Peshawar last week. The refugees were told they were being taken to another camp in Pakistan, but were in fact taken to the border and handed over to the Taliban, the UN said. Asked why the Afghans were deported in this manner, Khan said it had been done in compliance with “directives from the NWFP governor, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah”. Nine of the deported families had already taken part in the pre-screening process, according to UNHCR, and Khan confirmed that they were all now in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Their deportation was in contravention of the 2 August agreement between the UNHCR and the Pakistani authorities on a joint screening programme of refugees to determine their status. In August, some 21,029 families took part in the pre-screening process in the Jalozai and Nasir Bagh camps in Peshawar. Meanwhile, the deported Afghans - members of the Tajik ethnic group - lack the resources to return to their places of origin in conflict areas in the north of the country, and some have fallen ill, according to UN staff in Jalalabad. A total of 14,564 Afghan families have registered to take part in the second phase of screening, which was suspended on 31 August, just two days after it had started. Of this total, 6,465 families opted for voluntary repatriation and will receive a package of US $90, a plastic sheet and 150 kg of wheat from UNHCR. Referring to the screening process, Khan said: “We feel that it is running smoothly, and the teams have been very efficient.” Those refugees found to be in need of protection will be granted temporary legal status to reside in Pakistan, and those accepted will be transferred to the New Shamshatoo camp in Peshawar, where they will be provided with assistance by UNHCR. Those rejected will have the right to appeal, but once a final decision is made they will have to go home.