PESHAWAR, March 26: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) suspended relief activities at Jalozai camp on Monday after internally displaced persons from Khyber Agency attacked its workers and official vehicles.

Officials said that several gunshots were fired and stones were pelted at relief workers in the camp. A bullet mark was visible on the side window of a bullet-proof vehicle, said an official.

The relief workers remained safe, he said. The agency immediately suspended activities and withdrew entire staff from the camp after the attack.

Witnesses said that situation went out of control when about 5,000 IDPs thronged registration centre in the camp. The IDPs had been waiting for registration and relief assistance.

The perturbed IDPs threw stones at the UN workers and opened fire that caused panic. The registration and distribution of goods were suspended and UNHCR pulled out its staff from the camp.

Thousands of people including women and children have shifted to the camp from Khyber Agency where security forces have launched a fresh offensive against militants.

Officials said that UNHCR had set up registration point at the camp where 72 workers had been deputed. Despite that rush of IDPs could not be managed, they added.

An elder of the camp said that the affected people, who immediately needed shelter and food, were fed up with the lengthy process of registration. Dawn

An official told that after getting firm assurance from the government, the agency and other bodies of the UN had decided to resume humanitarian activities in the camp from Tuesday.

After the incident, a joint meeting of UNHCR, Provincial Disaster Management Authority and Fata Disaster Management Authority was held to review security arrangements in the camp. The UN body was assured that existing security measures would be enhanced within two days.

“It was decided that UN agencies will restart activities with minimum physical presence in the camp for two days,” said an official.

He said that UNHCR would open two additional humanitarian centres outside Jalozai camp to expedite registration process of IDPs, because 90 per cent of the displaced people wanted to stay with host families.

“Only 10 per cent of the IDPs want to stay in camp while the remaining people register themselves just for getting relief items that makes process very complicated,” he stated.

PDMA Director General Shahzad Khan Bangash while taking notice of the firing incident in Jalozai camp directed officials of the camp to conduct inquiry and submit report at earliest, said an official statement.

It said that that PDMA had registered 19,490 families of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency in the camp. The new displacement of the people started after security forces launched operation in Bara last week.

It said that registration of 97,451 individuals had been completed and 46,741individuals desired to stay in camp while 50,710 of them preferred to stay with their relatives.

The statement said that PDMA was increasing registration points and staff member to make the registration process speedy in the best interest of IDPs.