CHITRAL: Some unidentified armed persons believed to have come from the neighboring Nooristan area of Afghanistan raided the summer pasture of Bumburate valley and took away with them around 150 goats being grazed there by a local shepherd.

The incident took place early on Tuesday when five to seven masked and armed persons started herding the animals and took them with them. They, however, released the shepherd near the border.

Lower Chitral district police officer Abdul Haye, however, put the number of goats taken away by the Afghan desperados at 49, confirming the shepherd grazing the animals had returned to the village safe and sound.

He said that owners of the goats had earlier been warned by the local police to desist from grazing their animals near the border keeping in viewpossibility of the attack.

Special assistant to chief minister on minorities affairs, Wazir Zada, condemned the incident and said it was purely an act of some elements in the Afghan area who had been involved in such criminal activities in the past too.

He said the people of Kalash valleys had friendly relations with the people of Nooristan and lived as peaceful neighbours while such incidents were the personal act of some gangsters.

He hoped that tribal chiefs of Afghan area would discourage such acts in future and force the bandits to return the goats to the jirga being sent to the area.

REFUSAL OF COVID-19 TEST: The traders of Booni town, the district headquarters of Upper Chitral, have refused to give samples for Covid-19 test,which has been made mandatory for them as a step to contain the virus.

The Traders’ Union arranged a procession as the shopkeepers continued their protest. They criticised the administration for subjecting them to torture to give swab samples for the test. They said that the shopkeepers were fully acting on the SOPs to contain coronavirus.

The union president Mohammad Shafi and other leaders threatened to observe a shutter down strike against the administration if it did not stopped torturing the traders on one or the other pretext.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020