LANDI KOTAL: The members of Shalobar Qaumi Council threatened to block Peshawar-Torkham Highway for an indefinite period if their demand for revival of the closed stone crushing units was not met till February 9.

In a jirga of Shalobar elders held in Bara on Sunday, the SQC leaders also demanded vacating all their houses currently under the occupation of security forces in Bara.

They said that Khyber district administration failed to revive the stone crushing units, over 30 in number in the lap of Besai Baba hill, that were shut down in 2009 when military operations were launched throughout Bara against outlawed militant groups.

The members of SQC said that the prolonged closure of stone crushing units not only confronted the owners with huge financial losses but also rendered hundreds of local people jobless.

They said that expensive parts of the crushing units were also stolen during the last decade. They said that with the closure of crushing units, the residents of Bara were compelled to buy crushed stones for reconstruction of their houses and other damaged buildings from far off localities that put an additional financial burden on the militancy-affected people.

The SQC members said that a number of houses in Shalobar area had been occupied by the security forces since the start of military operation. They added that the houses were not vacated despite the culmination of military operations back in 2014.

They said that government departments also failed to fulfil their promises of providing electricity, drinking water and rebuilding damaged schools and health units as part of the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Bara after the return of internally displaced families to the region.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2020

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