Pak shuts down 42 refugee camps housing Afghans

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on Wednesday said it has shut down as many as 42 camps that had housed Afghan refugees for over 40 years. Millions of Afghan refugees crossed into Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, being a bordering province, hosted the largest number of these refugees for decades.

Authorities maintain that the closure of the almost 45-year-old refugee camps aims to streamline the system of refugee residence and registration in the province and to ensure the elimination of illegal and unregulated camp residents. Official sources said on Wednesday that the process of closure of the camps was carried out in two phases. Aid agencies said they were sorely in need of staff and supplies to tend to the region’s survivors.