PESHAWAR, May 23: Hundreds of workers of basic health units in Afghan refugee camps in the NWFP and in tribal areas who have not received their salary for five months have gone on hunger strike. The protesters, along with their children, started the strike in front of the Peshawar Press Club on Monday. They also staged a demonstration against the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

General-Secretary of the Health Staff Welfare Association Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Gandapur said the UN agency had not paid salaries to 515 employees for the last five months.

The general-secretary said that the UNHCR representatives did not explain why had they stopped paying salaries to workers who finally resorted to closing down 35 basic health units in certain parts of the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

However, the health staff would continue providing emergency cover to the refugees, he added. Mr Gandapur said that the protest would continue until the UN agency paid their outstanding salaries.

The general-secretary also demanded resolution of the issue of annual increments which had been stopped since January 2002.