RAWALPINDI: In keeping with the government’s National Action Plan to counter terrorism and extremism, the Special Branch has been asked to conduct search operations in areas populated by Afghan refugees and those displaced from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to verify the immigration status of all Afghans and tribesmen who reside in each district of North Punjab.

In the wake of Operation Zarb-i-Azb, law enforcement agencies were apprehensive that terrorists from the tribal areas could migrate to other parts of the country and hide amongst their families or other tribesmen.

Also read: Govt in a fix over issue of Afghan refugees

Orders to this effect were circulated to the Rawalpindi city police officer (CPO) and district police officers (DPOs) in Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal. The aim of this verification exercise, according to official documents available with Dawn, was to establish whether the people living with such families were who they said they were.

Police were provided a pro forma for registration of all Afghans and Fata residents and were directed to forward all data collected to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for authentication. Those Afghans or tribesmen whose family trees could not be verified, the orders say, should be proceeded against.

As per the Special Branch pro forma, every Afghan or Fata resident is required to provide law enforcement officials their full name, National Identity Card number, and current residential address along with the name of their concerned police station. Apart from those whose data cannot be verified by Nadra, all those with prior criminal records will also be prosecuted.

In response, law enforcement and intelligence officials submitted a detailed report on the number of Afghan refugees and Fata residents living in their respective areas.

Police had already been conducting searches in Rawalpindi division and had detained dozens of people in a crackdown against Afghan nationals. However, most of these people were eventually released.

In their report, police and intelligence agencies suggest that following the military operation in North Waziristan, a large number of displaced persons had migrated to other parts of the country. These droves of internal refugees offered terrorists the ideal cover and they could be moving freely around the country under the guise of IDPs.

The report also points out that instead of obtaining alien registration cards, several Afghan nationals had – in connivance with local authorities – managed to obtain CNICs and were posing as Pakistani citizens. This made it harder for law enforcement agencies to identify them.

“This could help suspected terrorists to remain undetected,” the report said.

The report suggests that the authorities conduct a comprehensive search operation in all Afghan-populated areas and confiscate all such forged or fake NICs and cancel them immediately.

Survey report

The survey report available with Dawn does not give an exact number of Afghans and Fata residents residing in the different districts of North Punjab. However, it does provide a list of neighbourhoods where such individuals reside. According to the survey, there is a large presence of Afghans in the Rawalpindi city and Cantt areas, who live and work in the city. In addition, people from the Bajaur Agency, Mohmand Agency and Karak also live in Race Course Police precincts. A large colony of Afghan families is also based around Golra Mor, Motorway Chowk and its surrounding areas.

The report suggests that most of the Afghans living in Rawalpindi district are associated with different businesses, including clothing and apparel, shoes, fruit and dry fruit as well as daily wagers who sell their wares on carts.

The survey reveals that more than 1,500 Afghans live in Gujar Khan, while several Afghan nationals live in Murree, Attock, Hazro, Fatehjang, Jhelum, Dina, Sohawa, Chakwal, Kallar Syedan, Kallar Kahar, Talagang and Taxila.

The report points out that a large number of Afghan families lived in the immediate vicinity of the Taxila Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) and Wah Cantonment. A number of families from Parachinar and Mohmand lived in the Munirabad locality of Wah. They have laid down permanent roots by buying houses and starting their own businesses.

Published in Dawn January 26th , 2015

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