PAKISTAN: THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES AT BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN/ INTERNATIONAL AID AGENCIES CONCERN ON HUMANITARIAN CRISIS/ PROTESTS LATEST

Record ID: 275193

  • Title: PAKISTAN: THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES AT BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN/ INTERNATIONAL AID AGENCIES CONCERN ON HUMANITARIAN CRISIS/ PROTESTS LATEST
  • Date: 23rd September 2001
  • Summary: (W5) CHAMAN, PAKISTAN (SEPTEMBER 23, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. MV PAKISTAN BORDER PATROL TROOPS GET OFF TRUCK AT BORDER BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN 0.07 2. WIDE SOLDIERS AT BORDER 0.13 3. MV UNCHR REPRESENTATIVE, WILLIAM TAKATA, WALKING TOWARDS THE BORDER 0.21 4. SLV PAKISTAN SOLDIERS; SLV SOLDIERS BY PAKISTANI FLAG (2 SH
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QUETTA, CHAMAN, ISLAMABAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TUIY34YPOOT8142PAR4WKND6
  • Story Text: As thousands of Afghan refugees jam the border between
    Pakistan and Afghanistan, international aid agencies are
    becoming increasingly concerned about their plight.



    International aid organisations have warned of an
    impending humanitarian catastrophe along the
    Pakistan-Afghanistan border as thousands of Afghans flee their
    homes because of fears of U.S. attacks.

    Here at the Chaman checkpoint in Pakistan, there are
    believed to be at least 5,000 refugees stranded on the Afghan
    side of the border - prevented from crossing into Pakistan
    after the government closed the border last week.

    There are increasing fears about the fate of the refugees.

    International aid groups have so far been unable to reach
    them to provide food and shelter because of the fears of
    impending U.S. attacks. While the UN and other groups have
    begun putting contingency plans into place, the immediate
    future for these refugees remains bleak. Only those holding
    Pakistan visas are allowed into Pakistan - the others must
    simply wait and hope.

    On Sunday (September 23), a representative of the UNHCR
    William Takata went on the first fact-finding mission to the
    border to assess conditions. He said he was deeply concerned
    at what he saw - and what might be happening out of sight.

    "We don't know what is going on with the refugees. My worry
    is we don't know what is happening with the crowds of
    refugees. We want to see if we can't make a breakthrough at
    least for the vulnerable, the women and the children," Takata.

    One newly arrived Afghan refugee who was allowed into
    Pakistan said:
    "There are about four thousand refugees waiting on the
    border to get in and they are in very bad condition."
    But among many Pakistanis living in the border area,
    there continues to be strong opposition to expected U.S.

    reprisals against Afghanistan.

    The leader of one of the main Islamist parties in Pakistan
    on Sunday warned that it would be foolhardy to allow U.S.

    forces to use bases in Pakistan for proposed strikes on
    Afghanistan.

    The hardline Sunni Moslem group, a member of the
    Pakistan-Afghan Defence Council that supports the Taliban,
    said its mujahideen, or holy warriors -- many believed to have
    trained in camps inside Afghanistan -- would also be sent to
    surround air bases to try to prevent U.S. military from using
    the facilities.

    "We saw the situation and ordered our mujahideen to march
    toward the border with Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban
    and against the U.S.," Abdul Ghafoor, leader of the JUI in
    western Baluchistan province that borders Afghanistan, told a
    news conference.

    Pakistani troops are reported to have reinforced the
    length of the border, known as the Durand line since it was
    demarcated during the British Raj, and are also stopping all
    Afghans without proper papers from entering.

    "Pakistan promised to allow U.S. forces to use their air
    bases and therefore we call on all our mujahideen (holy
    warriors) that if any of the air bases is handed over to the
    U.S., our militants will surround these airbases," Ghafoor
    said.

    The JUI is a pro-Taliban party with strong bases in
    western Baluchistan and in North West Frontier Province that
    also borders Afghanistan and runs several madrasses, or
    Islamic religious schools, where many of the Taliban were
    educated.

    He echoed the sentiments of many Pakistanis when he voiced
    fears the United States threat to hunt down bin Laden, prime
    suspect in the devastating U.S. attacks on September 11, was
    more than a manhunt, it was a war against the world of Islam.

    Many of the militant groups have said they would follow
    what have been described as the "collective decisions" of the
    Jihad Council for the Defence of Afghanistan -- a grouping of
    pro-Taliban Islamic groups in Pakistan.

    Most Islamists and militant factions view the U.S. role in
    the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with deep suspicion and
    accuse Washington of ditching its mujahideen allies after
    Soviet occupation troops withdrew from Afghanistan 12 years
    ago.

    Four people died in protests in the southern port city of
    Karachi on Friday (September 21) - three shot dead in clashes
    with police and a another of a heart attack -- after a
    coalition of Muslim groups called a national strike and a day
    of demonstrations.

    Over 50 people were arrested, most of them Afghans, police
    said. But as a fuller picture of Friday's protests emerged
    from across this county of 140 million, it was clear the
    turnout was low by Pakistani standards.

    On Sunday amid heavy security, several thousand people
    protested again in Karachi to show their support for the
    Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

    Protesters chanted "Come forward Osama bin Laden we are
    with you" and "Long live Mullah Omar".

    Protesters stamped on and burnt a U.S. flag.

    However the protest passed off peacefully after the
    violent incidents on Friday in Karachi.

    Pakistani opinion has been divided over Musharraf's
    decision to help the United States in the wake of the attacks
    on the World Trade Center in New York and Washington's
    Pentagon that killed nearly 7,000 people.

    The United States says Saudi-born dissident bin Laden, who
    lives as a "guest" of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, is the
    prime suspect and has vowed to hunt him down and punish those
    who protect him.

    A snap poll by Gallup Pakistan last week showed 62 percent
    of those questioned opposed Musharraf's decision to stand by
    the United States.

    Pakistan hosts at least two million Afghan refugees --
    more than a million in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
    bordering Afghanistan -- and the provincial capital Peshawar
    now has more Afghan than local people.

    Many Pakistanis fear the refugees could prove dangerous if
    a conflict broke out between Pakistan and Afghanistan. However
    in an interview with Reuters Television, Tariq Aziz, the
    Principal Secretary to the Pakistani President, Pervez
    Musharraf, conceded that by cooperating with the US, the
    Pakistani government was hoping to limit the risk of civilian
    casualties and moderate the actions of American troops.



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