Afghan refugees fear war, reluctant to go home

Pir Alizai Camp (Pakistan), Feb 3: Pakistan says its Afghanrefugee camps are a hotbed of support for a resurgent Taliban and theyshould be closed, but it seems no one in the Pir Alizai camp wants togo home.

A sprawling settlement of about 150,000 refugees crammed into mudhouses about 50 km (30 miles) from the Afghan border, Pir Alizai wasset up soon after Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Nearly 30 years later and Afghanistan is still at war, butPakistan is now determined to close the camp, and other similarsettlements, saying they have become sanctuaries for Taliban battlingthe Afghan government and US and NATO troops across the border.

''There's no peace in Afghanistan, we can't go there in thissituation,'' said Haji Zardad Khan, a 55-year-old resident of the camp.''We'd even be willing to go to Pakistani jails rather than go back toour country.'' Violence surged in Afghanistan last year to its mostintense since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Afghanistan and its allies say the Taliban's strength is partly a result of safe havens in Pakistan.

NATO and Pakistan agreed this week that three million Afghanrefugees in Pakistan posed a security threat and needed to berepatriated.

Afghanistan has struggled to cope with the return of more than 4.6 million refugees since the Taliban were overthrown.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UN refugee agency agree repatriation of the remainder will be voluntary and gradual.

Afghanistan would be overwhelmed if Pakistan started forcing back large numbers, aid officials say.

Four camps in Pakistan are due to be closed soon but there arenumerous others -- small and large -- scattered across border provinces.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told a news conference in thecity of Rawalpindi on Friday the camps, particularly those inBaluchistan province, like Pir Alizai, were Taliban havens.

''We don't want them here, take them away, let them go back to Afghanistan,'' he said.

'Nobody Knows'

But residents of Pir Alizai denied Talibanmilitants were hiding in the camp, although some people appearedsympathetic towards the Islamists battling to expel US and NATO troopsand defeat the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

''There's unrest in Afghanistan and there's no system there,''said Mohammad Tahir Agha, 35, a cleric at a religious school in thecamp. ''The government is corrupt so they level these allegations thatthe Taliban and al Qaeda have headquarters here.'' One young man saidangrily that foreign ''infidel'' troops must leave Afghanistan.

''How can we go back when America is there?'' asked the man,Mateen Jan, 26. He said he was eight years old when he came to Pakistanwith his family.

''Musharraf is now our president. Hamid Karzai brought infidels toour country and unless they are expelled we won't recognise Karzai asour president,'' he said.

Police and other security agencies have no presence in the camps, which are run by shuras, or councils, made up of residents.

''Nobody knows exactly who is in the camps,'' said a security official.

Bibi Fatima, 56, said she didn't want to face US bombing back in Afghanistan.

''We just want to be allowed to live here,'' she said. ''Pakistantells us to go back but instead of being killed by American bombs thereit would be better if Pakistani bombs killed us here.''

Reuters>