NOWSHERA, April 15: Work on demolishing the Jalozai refugee camp began on Tuesday amid protests by Afghan refugees.

Frontier Constabulary (FC) and police personnel, backed by armoured vehicles, were deployed as bulldozers and other heavy machinery carried out the demolition operation from 8am till 4pm, despite intermittent rain.

“Over 400 of around 1,000 makeshift shops in the main Chowk Bazaar of the camp were razed,” Afghan Commissionerate officials told Dawn, adding that demolition of houses would be taken up later.

The authorities disconnected electricity and water supply and blocked all roads to the camp to avert any untoward incident.Some refugees resisted the operation and pelted the bulldozers with stones, injuring a driver, witnesses said.

The operation was halted for an hour and resumed after negotiations with elders.

Scores of students of a seminary in the camp blocked the Chirat Road and burnt tyres. However, they dispersed after getting assurances from the local administration.

Afghan commanders at the camp, officials of the Afghan Commissionerate and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had agreed to the deadline of April 15 for winding up the camp but most of the refugees did not leave because of severe cold in Afghanistan.

Officials said around 1,200 families had been repatriated from the camp over the past two months and their homes had been demolished.

People of Jalozai and adjoining areas were demanding closure of the camp, terming the refugees a burden on their resources.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR has suspended its voluntary repatriation operation for refugees via Peshawar because of blockade of the Peshawar-Torkham road at Jamrud by tribesmen in protest against threats by the Lashkar-i-Islam.

More than 360 families had been processed for repatriation from Peshawar to Afghanistan on Monday but they could not leave. The UNHCR provided food, plastic sheets and blankets to 45 needy families.

More than 70,000 Afghans living at Jalozai had been given the option of repatriating to Afghanistan or relocating to a refugee village in Pakistan, the UNHCR said in a press release. Over 3,000 were repatriated in recent weeks. More than 30 families had sought relocation to the Kot Chandna refugee village in Punjab, it said.

The UN agency acknowledged that the camp must be closed but expressed the hope that the government would give a little more time in view of the blockade of the Peshawar-Torkham road.