PAKISTAN: FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL WARNS AFGHAN REFUGEES THAT THEY WILL BE DEPORTED IF FOUND TAKING PART IN POLITICAL AGITATION

Record ID: 208475

  • Title: PAKISTAN: FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL WARNS AFGHAN REFUGEES THAT THEY WILL BE DEPORTED IF FOUND TAKING PART IN POLITICAL AGITATION
  • Date: 10th October 2001
  • Summary: (U5) CHAMAN BORDER, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 10, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. GV'S/LV: MASS OF PEOPLE MARCHING AND CHANTING AT BORDER (4 SHOTS) 0.16 2. MV'S: TRAFFIC ON BORDER (2 SHOTS) 0.27 3. SV'S: PAKISTAN POLICE IN TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 0.42 4. SV: AFGHAN WOMEN CROSSING BORDER INTO PAKISTAN 0.51 5. LV: AFGHAN MEN LOOKING ON 0.54 6. MV: PAKISTAN SECURITY POLICE AT BORDER 0.59 7. VARIOUS: AFGHAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT BORDER CROSSING; WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING WITH BELONGINGS AT BORDER; AFGHAN MEN SITTING (8 SHOTS) 1.32 8. CU: SOUNDBITE (Pashto) AFGHAN REFUGEE FROM KANDAHAR SAYING: "They were bombing Kandahar and there were a lot of victims and injured." 1.42 (U5) QUETTA, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 10, 2001) (REUTERS) 9. SLV: MEN IN STREET; EMPTY SHOPPING STALLS 1.45 10. SLV; SECURITY POLICE ON STREET 1.50 11. SLV: CLOSED PHARMACY 1.54 12. VARIOUS MARKET STALLS 1.58 13. TRACK: CLOSED SHOPS 2.07 14. TILT UP: PAKISTAN POLICE ON ROOF OF BUILDING OVERLOOKING STREET 2.12 (U5) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 10, 2001) (REUTERS) 15. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN AZIZ AHMAD KHAN 2.19 16. SV: JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2.22 17. SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN AZIZ AHMAD KHAN SAYING "Refugees are given shelter in the country because they are refugees and they should confine themselves to being refugees and should not start any political agitation and things of that nature. If anyone indulges in such activities they should be sent back." / REPORTER ASKING IF ANYONE HAS BEEN SENT BACK YET. "Not yet." 2.47 18. WS: JOURNALISTS 2.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHAMAN BORDER CROSSING, QUETTA AND ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA2X8UY58IR18OVRFMQ0OZ6TK42
  • Story Text: Refugees flooding over the border from Afghanistan into
    Pakistan have been warned that they are not welcome if they
    use their time in the host country to get involved in
    political "agitation" a Foreign Ministry spokesman has said.


    Pakistan continued to beef up security across the
    country on Wednesday (October 10) fearing a flood of illegal
    entries into the country by desperate Afghan refugees driven
    out by U.S-led punitive strikes on their country.

    But the security was not solely directed at the refugees,
    increased security precautions in Quetta - the scene of
    violent confrontations between pro-Taliban demonstrators and
    Pakistani police - was also evident.

    Pakistan, home to more than two million Afghan refugees,
    issued a stern warning to them on Wednesday saying they would
    be deported if found taking part in political agitation.

    The comment came amid reports that large numbers of people
    taking part in anti-U.S. and pro-Taliban demonstrations early
    this week in the northwestern city of Peshawar and
    southwestern city of Quetta were Afghan refugees.

    "Refugees are given shelter in the country and they should
    confine themselves to being refugees and should not start any
    political agitation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmad
    Khan told a news conference.

    "If anybody indulges in such activities they should be
    sent back," he said.

    Pakistan has been grappling with widespread protests
    against U.S.-led military strikes on Afghanistan since Sunday
    night when Washington started its air campaign on several
    Afghan cities.

    Violent protests, in which at least five people have been
    killed, dozens injured and scores arrested by the police,
    erupted in Quetta and Peshawar on Monday and Tuesday.

    The violence saw the burning of four cinemas as well as
    the office of the United Nations Children Fund.

    Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is keen to
    ensure that these protests do not spin out of control and has
    put in place very tight preventive security measures in most
    cities.

    He has said Pakistan would not open its border to a large
    exodus of Afghan refugees because it already played host to
    more than two million and its resources did not allow it to
    accept any more.

    But officials of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR,
    which is preparing for large scale refugee population, have
    said they were optimistic the government would cooperate with
    them if and when a humanitarian problem developed on the
    border.


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