Three Afghan refugee camps in Bannu vacated as 525 families repatriated

PESHAWAR: Three Afghan refugee camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district have been fully vacated after 525 families were sent back to Afghanistan, a district official said on Tuesday.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Umar Khittab Khan said the return of Afghan refugees was being carried out in phases under directives issued by the provincial government. He said the policy covered Afghan refugees living in camps as well as those residing in urban neighbourhoods and villages.

According to the official, all 525 families living in the Bizan Khel, Ghoriwala and Mamand Khel camps were repatriated through the Torkham border crossing. He said the government arranged transport and other required facilities to support the repatriation process.

He said the administration was now concentrating on Afghan nationals living in rented accommodation and private homes in Bannu city and nearby villages. Their details, he said, had been shared with the relevant police stations and efforts were under way, in line with government directives, to ensure their early repatriation.

The additional deputy commissioner said Afghan families who wished to return voluntarily could stay at temporary transit centres set up by the district administration. From those centres, transport would be arranged to take them to Torkham for onward travel to Afghanistan.

Returns through Torkham increase

The repatriation of Afghan families through the Torkham border has accelerated after the federal government ordered the arrest and deportation of foreigners living in Pakistan without valid visas. Officials at the Hamza Baba transit point in Landi Kotal had said earlier this week that daily numbers had risen above 10,000 since Pakistan directed all Afghan nationals in the country to return by July 10.

Separately, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has voiced concern over what it described as the forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan.