KOHAT: Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz suffered a setback after two senior leaders announced joining Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl here on Monday.

ANP’s former woman MPA Musarat Shafi Advocate and PML-N’s former tehsil nazim Malik Taimoor joined the JUI-F in the presence of party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at a function held at the hujra of former district nazim Seth Gohar Saifullah.

Mr Rehman and other provincial leaders had stayed in Kohat for the night after returning from Hangu, where they addressed a public meeting on Sunday.

JUI-F leaders Mohammad Akram Durrani, district emir Maulana Abdur Raheem and newly-elected city mayor Qari Sher Zaman were also present.

When contacted, ANP leader Masood Advocate told Dawn that the party had sidelined the former MPA over her alleged corruption when she was a lawmaker.

However, Ms Shafi rejected the allegations.

TUNNEL IN BAD SHAPE: The Kohat Friendship Tunnel has turned into a ‘black hole’ with broken tiles, lights and a dysfunctional exhaust system, causing trouble to motorists.

In separate statements, former district nazim Malik Taimoor and chairman Kohat Qaumi Tehreek Ameer Khan Afridi regretted that the tunnel was in bad shape, but the lawmakers paid no heed to fix the faults.

They said the National Highway Authority was earning millions of rupees annually as toll tax, but did not spend a penny on its maintenance. Similarly, they said the link road from Kohat to the tunnel was in bad shape.

They said over 14,000 vehicles crossed the tunnel in a day, and due to faulty exhaust system smoke had blackened the interior of the tunnel.

The tunnel’s project director Pervez Gul said a plan was made to construct two more tunnels keeping in view rush on the Indus Highway, but it was dropped.

When contacted, an NHA official in Islamabad told Dawn that the authority would construct a second tunnel to ease pressure on the existing one.

CATTLE HEADS KILLED: Roof of a house collapsed in Raisan area of Hangu district on Sunday night due to heavy rain, killing eight cattle heads.

House owner, Ghadeer Ali said one cow and seven goats were killed when the roof collapsed. He demanded financial help to reconstruct his house.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2022