Operation launched against illegal refugees in Khyber

JAMRUD: An operation has been launched against illegal Afghan refugees in the Khyber district, said an official on Friday.Khyber Deputy Commissioner, Bilal Shahid Rao told reporters that there were 24,000 registered and over 50,000 unregistered Afghan refugees in the district.

He said an operation was launched against the illegal Afghan refugees in the provincial capital, Peshawar, after which the same was started in the Khyber district as well.The official said all the people were asked to cooperate with the government and identify the Afghan refugees.

He said all Afghan refugees should go and get themselves registered in the holding camp established for their repatriation in Landikotal so that they could be sent back to their country with respect, or else strict legal action would be taken against them.

The official said about 24,000 registered Afghan refugees residing in Khyber district who had Afghan cards, while in addition to this, there were thousands of Afghan refugees residing illegally in the district who do not have any documents.

He warned that action would also be taken against the Afghan refugees who had acquired Pakistani identity cards fraudulently.The official said he had issued instructions to the Police Department to continue the operation against Afghan refugees and take them to the holding camp set up in Landikotal so that they could be sent back to Afghanistan.