KARACHI, July 17: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will close down its facility in the Chaman waiting area along the Pakistan-Afghan border next week.

This was spelt out by Jack Redden, spokesman for the UNHCR in Pakistan, at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

About 26,000 Afghans had been stranded in this makeshift camp since February 2002 when Islamabad closed the border.

In May this year, an agreement between the two governments was reached to close down the facility.

According to Mr Redden, as the inmates were offered to move to other camps, 60 per cent of them chose to return to a camp near Kandahar, whereas the rest opted for a camp in Pakistan.

He said that 19,000 Afghans would be moved from the makeshift facility next week following and that it would completely be levelled after repatriation was completed.

He estimated that between 300,000 and 350,000 Afghan refugees would be returning home voluntarily this year as against 215,000 last year. The refugees included 26,000 who returned from Karachi and were now on their way to the north of the country because of the economic opportunities.

He said that so far 183,000 had been provided assistance in their repatriation from Karachi and most of them preferred Torkham in the NWFP over Chaman in Balochistan.

The UNHCR representative said the current tripartite agreement among Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR would complete its term in 2005.

Asked how many of those repatriated DPs had again crossed over to Pakistan, Mr Redden replied that he could not give any figure but was sure it had reduced to the minimum. He said a special scanning device would make it possible to track down those who would try to re-enter.

The UNHCR had launched a Voluntary Repatriation Programme under which a total of 26,404 individuals (5,854 families) have been provided assistance in their repatriation process since March 17.

The refugees, living in various camps and settlements in different parts of Karachi, travelled in convoys to return to their homeland via Torkham, Chaman and Khost. Following is the breakup of the figure:

Month Families Individuals Borders

March 329 1,728 Torkham and Chaman

April 1,330 6,245 Torkham, Chaman, Khost

May 1861 8112 Torkham and Chaman

June 1645 7076 Torkham and Chaman

July 689 3241 Torkham and Chaman

The figures show that the DPs’ favourite crossing point was Torkham as 19,837 individuals (75 per cent) opted for this route. Those who preferred Chaman route numbered 6,280 (23.75 per cent) and only 121 (0.45 per cent) travelled via Khost. Exit route of 166 persons (0.5 per cent) could not be ascertained.

Among the destination provinces in Afghanistan, Kunduz topped the list with 4,966 (18.8 per cent) DPs followed by Kabul with 4,333 (16.4) per cent, Baghlan with 3,710 (14 per cent), and Takhar with 1,508 (5 per cent), while the rest proceeded to other parts of Afghanistan.

According to the UNHCR, from April 2, 2002 to January 31, 2003, a total of 157,422 people (29,678 families) were settled in Afghanistan. Of them, 81,947 were male and 75,475 female refugees. Their ethnic breakup has been stated as 4,097 Uzbeks, 9,631 Pashtuns, 10,016 Tajiks, 5,244 Hazara, 502 Turkmen, 21 Baloch, 16 Arabs and 149 non-Afghans. The favourite destination of most of them was Baghlan, followed by Kunduz, Kabul, Kandahar, Jawzjan and Takhar.