Pak. condemns bid to kill Masood

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 11. Pakistan today condemned the assassination attempt on the Northern Alliance leader in Afghanistan, Mr. Ahmed Shah Masood, in which he reportedly received serious injuries.

A Foreign Office statement said here that Pakistan was opposed to violence in Afghanistan, which may be aggravated by such acts of terrorism. Pakistan desires to see peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan where people have suffered the ravages of foreign military intervention followed by more than a decade of civil strife.

In a related development, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has claimed that more than 4,100 Afghans returned home last week.

The U.N. agency provides a repatriation package comprising a cash allowance of Rs. 6,000 ($90) and a plastic sheet and 150 kgs wheat is distributed under the World Food Programme to the Afghan refugees.

The UNHCR and Pakistan screening teams at the makeshift Jalozai site and Nasir Bagh refugee camp in north-west Pakistan last week interviewed more than 4,500 Afghans seeking protection in Pakistan. The screening programme will determine the refugee status of those who have fled to Pakistan in recent months to escape war and drought in their homeland.

The officials screened 739 persons, of which 519 have been accepted, 148 rejected, while 59 opted for voluntary repatriation and 13 were found to be inadmissible.

Afghans who are screened will be granted a temporary legal status to reside in Pakistan. The cases of those rejected have the right of appeal, but once a final decision is made, they would have to return home.

Last week, the UNHCR and the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees (CAR) relocated the first Afghans accepted from the squalid Jalozai to the better-equipped New Shamshatoo refuge camp.

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Section  : International
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