NOWSHERA, March 6: Afgh-an Taliban have threatened security forces to leave the Jalozai refugee camp in three days, otherwise their fighters will target them, instead of the allied forces in Afghanistan.
The Taliban operating in Afghanistan issued a threatening letter to the Frontier Constabulary deployed at the Jalozai camp. Copies of the letter, written in Pashto and attributed to the Afghan Taliban, were distributed among people on the premises of the refugee camp.
However, Nowshera DPO Mubarak Zeb told Dawn that the copies of the letter had been pasted on the walls of mud shops and houses in the Jalozai camp. He further said security had been tightened at the camp.
Meanwhile, the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees ruled out extension in the deadline for closing the Jalozai camp and asked its inhabitants to vacate the site by April 15, said a spokesman here on Thursday.
The government, he said, had no plan to extend the deadline and asked Afghans to start preparation to vacate the site. The spokesman said some elements were spreading disinformation regarding extension and clarified that the camp would be vacated according to the decision of the tripartite commission.
The FC, police and security personnel of the Afghan Commissionerate were clueless about the people involved in distributing copies of the letter among inhabitants of the camp.
Over 200,000 Afghans, half of whom are said to unregistered, are living in the Jalozai camp. The camp was to be vacated by Dec 31, 2007, but later the deadline was extended till March 2008.
About 30 platoons of the Frontiers Constabulary have been deployed since March 1 to ensure security and safe exit of Afghan refugees.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.