BAJAUR: Malakand Commissioner Shahidullah Khan directed the officials here on Thursday to remain in touch with people from all walks of life to prevent anti-peace activities in the district effectively.

He was addressing a ceremony wherein he handed over compensation cheques of Rs100 million to the families of 50 victims, who were killed in the July 30 blast at a meeting of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl.

The blast had left 64 people killed and 122 other wounded. Besides the family members of the deceased, Deputy Commissioner Anwarul Haq, DPO Nazeer Khan, Khar tehsil council chairman Haji Said Badshah and JUI-F local chapter emir Maulana Abdur Rasheed also attended the ceremony.

The commissioner said that the July 30 shocked the whole nation. He said that the people involved in the incident were the enemies of Pakistan.

However, he said, such elements would not succeed in their anti-social and anti-peace mission as the people and government were on the same page about foiling their nefarious deigns.

He directed the senior officials of the administration and police to make all out efforts to avoid such tragic incidents in future.

The commissioner also asked the officials to develop strong liaison with people from all walks of life to prevent anti-peace activities.

Giving away compensation cheques of Rs2 million each to the families of 50 victims of total 64, he said that compensation cheques and cash amount to the families of the remaining victims and wounded would be given soon once the procedure was completed. The deputy commissioner and JUI-F local emir also spoke on the occasion.

PROTEST: The students of Government Postgraduate College Khar held a protest and blocked Khar-Mardan road to against absence of facilities in the college.

They said that lack of drinking water, closure of bus service and shortage of teachers were their major issues. They said that most of the available teachers were also not attending classes regularly.

They asked the college management to address their issues otherwise they would stage a massive protest. They also demanded the district administration to play its role in resolving their issues.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2023