CHITRAL, Feb 4: Passengers of a Peshawar-bound coach were allegedly manhandled by officials of the Kunar province of Afghanistan on Sunday and were sent back to Chitral when they refused to pay Afghan officials Rs500 per head as tax.

Some of the passengers told Dawn here that after the closure of the Lowari Pass, over 100 people left Chitral for Peshawar via Kunar province of Afghanistan in five passenger coaches.

They said before their departure, the district Nazim of Chitral had announced the opening of Kunar route for Chitrali people and had asked the passengers to travel through Afghanistan.

The Nazim had also claimed that the Afghan consulate in Peshawar had allowed the travel and the home department and the FC had also been apprised of the same.

They said when they reached Asadabad, the provincial headquarters of Kunar, they were stopped by the administration officials, who demanded Rs500 from each of the passengers, while Rs2,500 were demanded from each of the drivers.

They said that on their refusal, they were belaboured while the drivers were detained. Later, after two hours the Afghan officials freed the drivers and ordered them to return to Chitral. However, they refused to release a coach helper, they added.

Local political leaders have demanded of the Afghan government to take stern action against the people responsible for the incident, failing which 18,000 Afghans residing in the Chitral district would be forced to leave to Afghanistan.

Speaking at an all parties meeting here on Monday, they demanded the safe passage for Chitralis through Afghanistan during the closure of the Lowari Pass. Expressing their anguish, they said it was a humiliating act on the part of the Karzai government.