‘Terrorists’ held in Kohat

KOHAT, June 19: Police arrested 12 alleged terrorists during a search operation launched in the areas along the tribal belt and villages on the outskirts of Kohat city on Tuesday.

Police which suffered casualties in a bomb attack the other day launched the operation to comb the suspected areas in Kohat. The operation was carried out in Jarma, where the bomb attack had taken place, Ustarzai, Gumbat and Shakardarra, a police official said.

He added that three Kalashnikovs, six shotguns, two repeaters and three pistols were seized and at least 12 accused were arrested. —Correspondent

Tribe’s privileges suspended

LANDI KOTAL, June 19: The Khyber Agency political administration on Tuesday suspended all the official privileges of the Bar Qambarkhel tribe till further orders for non cooperation with the administration in Bara.

Officials said that the action was taken after the Bar Qambarkhel failed to surrender some wanted persons to the administration. They said that the decision was taken at a meeting held at the Khyber House and it was decided that all the privileges would remain suspended till the tribe complied with the official orders.They said that the local administration also had credible information about the presence of private jails in the area along side employing some Afghan clerics in the local mosques who were accused of spreading anti-Pakistan propaganda. —Correspondent

Police torture flayed

LAKKI MARWAT, June 19: Lawyers’ fraternity of the district boycotted court proceedings here on Tuesday as a mark of protest against police torture on ANP Lakki district president Advocate Sardruddin in Peshawar.

District bar association president Advocate Naimatullah Khan Khoidadkhel told a meeting of lawyers in the judicial complex Tajazai that the lawyers would boycott court proceedings against the police torture on Advocate Sadruddin in the presence of his wife, MPA Yasmeen Zia, and children.

Meanwhile, Malgari Ustazan, a teachers’ body affiliated with the ruling Awami National Party, also held a meeting in district headquarters complex Tajazai on Tuesday with general secretary Jamil Ahmad Khan in the chair. The meeting demanded of government to stop police from manhandling and torturing innocent people. —Correspondent

Solidarity with CJ

MARDAN, June 19: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf on Tuesday organised a rally to show solidarity with Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The protesters marched through various bazaars carrying banners inscribed with slogans in favour of the Supreme Court and against the government and Wapda for excessive power outages in Mardan district. The demonstration culminated in a big public meeting on Bank Road in Mardan city, which remained blocked for traffic for three hours.

PTI former provincial president Asad Qaiser, provincial information secretary Shah Farman, central joint secretary Mohammad Atif Khan, Mardan district information secretary Raiz Paida Kheil, Mujahid Khan and Moazam Khan and large number of party workers took part in the protest demonstration. —Correspondent

Two arrested, car recovered

PESHAWAR, June 19: Police arrested here on Tuesday two accused allegedly involved in car lifting and also recovered a car.

According to a police spokesman, a taxi driver, Riasat Khan, of sector G-7, Islamabad, had registered a case with police at Khan Raziq police station, Peshawar, on June 17 that two people, who had hired his car, took away the vehicle by giving him some sedatives at Afridi Star Hotel.

Following the information provided by the complainant, the police arrested Amanullah of Darra Adamkhel and Dilawar of Bahadur Kili, Peshawar, and also recovered the vehicle. The police have registered a case. —Bureau Report

Hydel power for Kalash people

CHITRAL, June 19: With the financial assistance of USAID, a Chitral-based NGO, Rural Community Development Programme (RCDP), will establish a hydel power project in the Kalash valley of Bumburate in nine months at a cost of Rs21 million.

Talking to media persons here on Tuesday, RCDP project coordinator Engineer Taimur Shah said that the power station would have a generation capacity of 250 kilowatts and it would cover a major fraction of the Kalash community in the valley.

He said that there was a tremendous potential of hydel power generation in all the three Kalash valleys but it was not being utilized. RCDP was determined to exploit the resources to raise the life standard of the community, he added. —Correspondent

Schools without buildings

BUNER, June 19: About 450 students of government high school Topai and middle school Meragai in union council Soray of Chaghorzai Tehsil are attending classes in open air due to the absence of proper buildings.

Former nazim Mujahid told media men at Daggar here on Tuesday that the two schools were damaged by Taliban in 1999. The high school Topai was included in the list of reconstruction, but it still awaits its turn, whereas the middle school in Meragai was not included in the list.

He said that the elders of the union council and adjacent localities had time and again visited the offices of DCO, DOR and also PaRRSA and PDMA, but to no avail. He alleged that PaRRSA and PDMA were ignoring the reconstruction of the two schools on political grounds. —Correspondent

PTI membership drive

PESHAWAR, June 19: Leaders of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, on Tuesday claimed that the party has registered more than 1.2 million new members during its ongoing campaign across the country, which would continue till June 30.

This was disclosed by former PTI provincial information secretary Saad Abdullah while speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday. He said that the membership drive was being carried out all over the country in which most of the new members was youths.

Accompanied by Hamidul Haq and Israr Bacha, he said that after completion of the membership campaign, the party election schedule would be issued. Mr Adullah said that PTI was the only political party which was holding elections from union council to centre level. —Bureau Report

Nawaz to address rally in Swat

MINGORA, June 19: The Pakistan Muslim League central leader Mian Nawaz Sharif will address a public gathering at Grassy ground, Saidu Sharif, here on Wednesday, says a PML-N press release.

The PML-N chief will address a party public meeting in Swat after 15 years. The party’s local chapter and local administration have finalised all arrangement for the public meeting.—Correspondent