Pakistan threatens to evict 100,000 Afghan refugees

Frustrated by a flood of Afghan refugees into the country, Pakistan’s frontier government today threatened to evict 100,000, some of whom have been living in exile for 20 years.

According to a government official in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province - where an estimated 1.2 million Afghans are living in camps - 100,000 refugees have been ordered out of the camp where they live by July 15.

‘‘We want to clear the Afghan refugees from Nasir Bagh camp. We have told them to leave the land,’’ said Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, secretary of home and tribal affairs in northwest Pakistan.

‘‘There are several camps where they may go. They may also go back to Afghanistan, but we want the land back,’’ He said.

The decision to evict Afghan refugees comes as Pakistan tries to cope with a fresh influx of more than 177,000 new refugees, who have arrived from Afghanistan since last September.

Shattered by the worst drought in 30 years, a relentless civil war and an economy in tatters, the United Nations warns that as many as one million Afghans are in danger of starving.

About 80,000 Afghans are living in camps in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, another 10,000 are stranded on the country’s northern border with Tajikistan and 177,000 have arrived in Pakistan.

The United Nations has issued emergency appeals to feed, clothe and shelter the newest refugees to Pakistan. But Islamabad says it is left to feed and care for the refugees after international emergency aid ends.