KOHAT, Dec 29: The Afghan refugees are not being allowed to travel through the Kohat tunnel despite expiry of Section 144 on Dec 9, say commuters.

An official of security forces told Dawn on Thursday that in fact confusion prevailed over lifting of the ban on the refugees travel due to delay in issuance of notification by the district administration in this regard.

He said that though the ban had expired on Dec 9, the security forces, which followed only written orders, were still imposing the Section 144 on the refugees travel through the tunnel, in the absence of any such orders.

When contacted, spokesman for the district police officer said that the notice of expiry of Section 144 was not issued normally and it was considered to be lifted after completion of the ban period.

In such a situation, the Afghan refugees were still restricted to using an alternative Sheikh Allahdad route from Peshawar, which was specified for them till Ashura, but their had been no official orders.

The official said that the public transport carrying Afghan refugees were not being allowed to pass through the tunnel as a precautionary measure to avert security breach inside the tunnel.

An Afghan family, which came from Jalalabad to Kohat last month for a marriage of their relative, told this correspondent that they were here to carry the bride back to Jalalabad, but were stuck here due to uncertain situation.

An elder of the family, Qari Abdullah, complained that they had thrice tried to cross the tunnel for going to Peshawar, but were turned back on the pretext that their entry was banned.

He said that the Sheikh Allahdad route was too dangerous for his family. Besides, it took four extra hours to reach Peshawar through that route, he said. He said that if they were not stopped at the border then why the security forces treated them as a threat to security here.

A police official said that the administration was considering enforcing the ban on refugees again till the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS). He advised the refugees to use the Rawalpindi or Sheikh Allahdad routes till the chehlum.