HARIPUR, May 21: Afghan elders from refugee camps of Hazara staged a demonstration in Kalabhat on Monday to protest against the shifting of Afghan refugees district administrator’s (DA) office from here to Abbottabad.   However, the district administrator did not agree to their demand.

It was reported that the additional commissioner-general (ACG), Afghan refugees, NWFP, had agreed to a proposal forwarded by the Haripur district administrator, Afghan refugees, last month and ordered the shifting of the DA office to Abbottabad.

The elders, who came to persuade the DA for reversal of his decision, said that the voluntary repatriation of the refugees under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees program was at its full swing the shifting of office would make their return complicated.

The decision has also caused concern to the staff, most of whom belong  to Haripur.

Some of them alleged that the decision was meant to serve the personal interest of the new administrator. “It is his interest as he wants to use the office as his residence in Abbottabad,” alleged an employee.

However, an official brushed aside the allegation and said it would be better to operate the office from Abbottabad as the charge of Mansehra camps, where over 1,200 families were residing, had been handed over to the Haripur office.