MANSEHRA, Dec 31: Provincial haj and auqaf minister Nimroz Khan on Monday said the government would issue arms licences to the residents of Torghar district without charge in line with an earlier bilateral agreement.

The minister told a news conference in Oghi area that the government had steered Torghar out of the dark ages by declaring it a settled district and put it on the way to prosperity.

“We’ve complied with almost all 23 points which we had agreed with the people of Torghar at the time when the area’s tribal status was changed to a settled district. Now, local residents will be issued arms licences without fee as per that agreement,” he said.

The local office-bearers of Awami National Party were also present on the occasion.

Mr Nimroz said the successive governments had kept the people of Torghar deprived of their basic rights.

“All credit of development in the area goes to the ANP government, which has not only changed tribal status of Torghar in accordance with the people’s wishes but has also earmarked billion of rupees for construction of offices, road and other infrastructure in the new district,” he said.

The minister said work on development schemes and district and tehsil offices was in full swing and that the people of the area would soon enjoy the facilities like other parts of the province.

He said schools, which had been converted into cattle pens, were being restored and that girls and boys would be given education there.

“The government has announced monthly financial benefits and stipend for female students of the district and that is a milestone in the life of the local people, especially women,” he said. President Zardari had changed the tribal status of Torghar to a settled district in early 2011 through a notification.

EIGHT-YEAR-OLD KILLED: A boy was killed here in Sawn Mera area early on Sunday.

Police said Bilal Ahmad, 8, was on the way to a mosque near his house to offer morning prayer when some unidentified person(s) hit him in the head with a sharp object, leaving him critically injured.

They said hearing his loud cries, the local residents stepped out and took the boy to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital but doctors pronounced him dead.

Lodging an FIR with police, Bilal’s father Abid Hussain said he was reciting verses from the Holy Quran inside the mosque when he heard his son’s cries and rushed to the scene where he was lying in a pool of blood.

The Saddar police lodged an FIR and began investigation into the killing.

However, no arrest could be made until Monday night.