Kacha Garhi, the oldest and one of the largest Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, has been closed three decades after it was established for Afghans fleeing the Soviet occupation of their country, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday, according to dpa. Nearly 64,000 Afghan refugees, many of whom were born and grew up in the camp, had lived there before the government decided to close Kacha Garhi this week. Each camp resident was given 100 dollars and was free to return to Afghanistan or relocate to another camp. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the three remaining large camps, Jalozai, Old Shamshatoo and Panian, will also be closed. Those camps are located in Hayatabad, in Pakistan's northwest frontier province. The UN said Pakistani authorities will use the land from those camps for urban development. The then Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan for a decade in the 1980s, sending more than 5 million Afghans refugees into neighbouring countries, with the bulk of them landing in Pakistan. Many have repatriated in recent years.
