Security concerns: CM concerned about unrestricted mobility of Afghan refugees

Urges federal govt to repatriate them or restrict them to camps outside K-P.

PESHAWAR: Expressing concerns over the issues related to the “stay and unfettered mobility of Afghan refugees in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P),” Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak has urged the federal government to play its role in repatriating them.

A handout issued on Tuesday quoted the chief minister as telling a high-level meeting at the CM Secretariat that Afghan refugees and their mobility is a constant source of crime in the province.

According to the handout, Khattak urged the federal government to realise its role in the repatriation of Afghan refugees or confining them to camps outside K-P. “We are in a state of war and the stay of Afghan refugees is an additional burden on K-P’s health sector and infrastructure,” said Khattak.

The CM reiterated his government’s demand for the return of Frontier Constabulary platoons to guard the borders between settled and tribal areas.

“The PTI-led government is accountable for the safety and security of K-P’s people,” the handout quoted the CM as saying.



Urging the federal government to prepare a roadmap for the rapid repatriation of Afghan refugees, Khattak said, “It is a problem that the K-P government inherited and we all need to be on the same page to find a suitable solution.”

K-P Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, information secretary, special secretary home and commissioner for Afghan refugees attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2014.