KHYBER: The poor governance and inefficiency of Khyber district administration came under scathing criticism during the second session of ‘Awami Jirga’ held in Landi Kotal on Wednesday with speakers rejecting such ‘useless gatherings when their problems remained unaddressed’.

Tribal elders and civil society activists took the officials of district administration to task and questioned their inability to end the month-long blockade of Peshawar-Torkham Highway and devise a workable plan for the return of remaining Kukikhel displaced families.

“It is a complete failure of the administration that the main highway through which bilateral trade is carried out with Afghanistan has been closed for more than a month while the district administration is holding jirgas in the name of resolving public issues,” they said.

They said that the closure of road had not only hampered trade with Afghanistan but also confronted local traders and transporters with huge financial losses along with shortage of essential daily use commodities, especially edibles, in Landi Kotal.

ADC promises to convey their grievances to relevant authorities

Speakers also blamed officials of education, public health and health departments for their continued failure to solve the issues pertaining to their departments despite repeated reminders and complaints by locals.

They said that results of previous such official gatherings were discouraging as they were yet to see solution to their problems that were highlighted on previous such occasions.

“We want the district administration to take practical steps for the resolution of our longstanding problems instead of wasting money and time on holding such useless gatherings,” they said.

Speakers also expressed their displeasure over the absence of deputy commissioner, MNA, MPA, and a provincial minister elected as MPA from Landi Kotal from the jirga. Local political leaders also stayed away from the jirga as they were not invited to it.

Tehsil chairman Shah Khalid Shinwari along with a group of councillors staged a walkout from the jirga and alleged that such gatherings could not resolve local issues as provincial government was constantly denying legitimate share to local governments in the development funds.

In his brief remarks prior to walkout, Mr Shinwari termed holding of the said jirga a joke with the people of Khyber and insisted that it could not help in resolving the thorny issues faced by locals for a long time.

Present on the occasion, the additional deputy commissioner, Nauman Khan, conceded that the criticism of all the speakers was genuine and he would convey those grievances to relevant authorities as per the mission of provincial government.

He pleaded for restraint and said that government was faced with a difficult financial situation. He assured the gathering that work would be initiated on a number of development schemes as funds were allocated for those projects.

The Wednesday’s jirga in Landi Kotal was part of the three jirgas announced by the district administration on the directives of chief minister. The first jirga was held in Bara on September 23 while the last will be held in Jamrud on September 27.

Representatives of all the major political parties had earlier told Dawn that they were not invited to any of those jirgas.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2024