TIMERGARA: Ninety-five per cent of the schools damaged during militancy in the Maidan tehsil of Lower Dir district have been renovated and made functional again.

This was stated by Maidan Operational Commander Lt-Col Umar Rashid Chaudhry while talking to mediapersons on Monday. He said the security forces with the support of local people had completely restored peace in the tehsil which was once a stronghold of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

The commander said some of the hardcore militants had left the area and shifted to Afghanistan but they too had been under strict observation. He said after the restoration of peace, provision of education and health facilities to the people was the top priority of the security forces. He said 88 government schools, both boys and girls, were either bombed or torched by militants in 2009, adding majority of them had been made functional.

The operational commander asked the locals to avoid deforestation as it added to air pollution.

Man found dead

Body of a man identified as Naushad Khan of Charsadda district was found on the bank of Panjkora River near Khall on Sunday night, residents and police said.

They said the victim worked as a meat seller at Khall Bazaar, adding he had been missing for last one day.

A police official said the body bore marks of severe torture. The police registered a case and started investigation.

The body was handed over to relatives at the DHQ hospital, Timergara.

Labourers protest

Owners and labourers of stone crushing plants from Lower and Upper Dir districts on Monday staged a protest rally at Gulabad Adenzai against the provincial government for sealing their plants and turning them jobless.

Earlier, the protesters from both the districts reached Gulabad in vehicular processions while hoisting black flags and chanting slogans against the government.

Addressing the rally, Aziz ur Rehman, chief of the crushing plants association, said they had set up plants on their own properties and that they would not accept any tax or government NOC to operate.

The speakers said thousands of people in Malakand division were earning their living while working at the stone crushing plants.

Varsity announces exam schedule

The University of Malakand on Monday announced schedule for BA/BSc supplementary examinations commencing from Feb 7.

A notification issued by the controller of examinations said the roll number slips along with the date-sheets had been dispatched to all candidates on their addresses.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2018