KOHAT: The Parachinar Reforms Committee (PRC) has regretted lukewarm response of the government to their rehabilitation after their displacement from Parachinar following riots in 2008.

The PRC elders demanded compensation for reconstruction of their destroyed houses and restarting their businesses. They also called for establishment of a quick response force, including army personnel, for Parachinar city which could swiftly restore order in case of any sectarian strife.

The PRC meeting chaired by its secretary general Attaullah Ghilji said on Sunday that the Governor’s House and other relevant officials did not listen to their grievances while no official meeting had been held for the past one and a half years to resolve the issue of compensation and resettlement.

Regret lukewarm govt’s response to resolve their issues

“The affected people were given Rs150,000 of the sanctioned Rs300,000 for every displaced family which has gone into paying house rents and schooling of children. For reconstruction of destroyed houses we need at least Rs2 million each for tribal area pattern house plus money for restarting business,” they said.

Mr Ghilji said that if the government had any objection to direct payment it should itself construct and hand over the houses and shops for them so they could return to their hometown.

LOW GAS PRESSURE: People in majority of gas- and oil-producing parts of Kohat district have been facing low pressure of gas with the advent of winter despite promises by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited officials to solve the problem.

The people of Lachi tehsil producing the resources and Kohat city and outskirts remain without gas in the morning and evening and they are forced to use firewood and gas cylinders.

Lachi Bazaar Association president Kiramat Hussain and writer Aman Aaasi told this scribe that the urban and rural areas of Lachi tehsil had been the worst affected. They said that the people were being victimised because they were provided the facility free of cost as their area fell within the five kilometre radius of the resources.

There were 25,000 households in Lachi urban where the gas did not come in the morning and evening till 8pm.

ARRESTED: Police arrested eight suspects, including drug peddlers, in a crackdown against anti-social elements on Sunday.

The Junglekhel police raided several alleged dens in Malangabad and adjacent locality and held four suspects and impounded two Kalashnikovs, two kalakovs and one pistol. They were taken to police station where separate FIRs were registered against them.

The cantonment police held four drug peddlers in Mohammadzai and Dhoda village and recovered four kilogrammes of hashish and 10 bottles of liquor. The police have registered FIRs against them.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2017