BAJAUR: Five policemen suffered injuries after unknown assailants attacked a checkpost in Inayat Kallay Bazaar here on Tuesday evening.

Residents and police officials said that unidentified attackers hurled a hand grenade on the police post located in the main Inayat Kallay Bazaar just after the sunset. They said five policemen were injured.

Israr Khan, a spokesman of the district police, told Dawn that the police personnel deputed at the post effectively responded to the attack, forcing the attackers to flee.

He said that Subedar Dilawar, Subedar Dawood Shah, and sepoys Sarwar, Mohammad Zair and Larif were wounded in the attack.

The official said the injured personnel were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, for treatment. Doctors said that their condition was out of danger.

Meanwhile, a senior police official, who along with a team of policemen visited the post, told Dawn that an investigation had been launched to ascertain as to who were the attackers and from where they came.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack till the filing of this report at 7.50pm on Tuesday.

PROTEST: The residents of various areas in Mamund tehsil on Tuesday staged a protest against delay in completion of a road scheme in the region.

Scores of people of Thani, Billoot, Umary, Manar Koot and its surrounding localities participated in the demonstration. They blocked Umary-Mamund highway in Thani area for about two hours.

The protesters including farmers, youth, political and social activists and representatives of local bodies chanted slogans against the relevant department and contractor for their failure to complete the road in stipulated time.

They said that renovation work on five kilometres Umary-Sewai road was launched in October 2021. The scheme was scheduled to be completed by June 2022. However, they regretted that the project was not completed.

Malik Walyat Khan, Jan Wali Khan, Saeed Khan and others addressed the demonstration and said delay in completion of the project was causing inconvenience to the residents of the entire region.

They said that unnecessary delay in execution of the scheme was badly affecting movement of both vehicles and pedestrians. They said that the delay was also troubling the people whose houses were located along the road as construction materials lying there caused clouds of dust that entered their homes.

Speakers said that the incomplete project was polluting environment as there was no system to sprinkle water on the road. They added that it a great injustice with the residents of the region.

They also lashed out at former lawmaker Gul Zafar Khan and incumbent MPA Hamidur Rahman, both belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, for their silence over the issue despite the fact that they were aware of the situation.

However, the demonstrators, who blocked the road to all kinds of traffic for about two hours, agreed to end the protest and reopen the highway when MPA Hamidur Rahman assured them that work on the project would be launched within the next three days.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2024