MANSEHRA: The district administration has issued notices to Afghan refugees in Mansehra asking them to shift to the Khaki Camp before April 10 and warned those not complying with the orders would be deported.

The notices were served on 1,600 Afghan families living in Sheikhabad, Barari and Ichrian refugee camps and other parts of Mansehra district.

“All Afghan families settled anywhere in the district are required to move to the Khaki Camp by April 10, while the defiant ones will be deported,” assistant commissioner Abdul Rehman told reporters here on Thursday.

Mr Rehman said a meeting held in Abbottabad on Wednesday with Hazara division commissioner Akbar Khan had decided to restrict Afghan nationals to the refugee camp located in Khaki area of Mansehra district.

Earlier in the day, a meeting was held on the matter with Mansehra DC Ayaz Khan in the chair and representatives of the law-enforcement agencies and district representative of Afghan commissioner Naeem Shahzad in attendance.

The meeting decided that the Afghan camps located near the initiatives undertaken under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project would be shifted to Khaki area.

The officials said the interior ministry has issued strict orders to the district administrations to restrict the movement of Afghan nationals near the sites of the CPEC-related initiatives.

FUNDS DEMANDED: The tehsil council on Thursday warned that an agitation would be launched against the provincial government if development funds weren’t launched for 194 village and neighbourhood councils in Mansehra.

The warning was issued during a session chaired by convener of the council Mohsin Waqar.

The PPP, PML-N and PTI councillors denounced the federal and provincial governments for ‘hatching conspiracies’ against the local government system in their respective regions.

Tehsil nazim Khurram Khan Swati, who belongs to the PML-N, said the holding of local government elections on party basis was a big mistake as none of political parties in the country owned the LG system and therefore, the people suffered the brunt of it.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2018