LAKKI MARWAT: Unknown miscreants attacked an under-construction building of a girls’ primary school in Bannu on Wednesday.

A police official said the incident occurred in Shah Najeeb Landidak Naikum Kallay area in the limits of Haved police station. He said the miscreants hurled a grenade towards the building, which exploded with a bang. However, he said the blast did not cause any loss to the human lives or damage to the building. He said the police reached the place, collected evidence and launched an investigation.

Meanwhile, Sukari tribesmen in Bannu on Wednesday protested against a former provincial minister for allegedly occupying a cemetery land.

They held a jirga in Sukari Kamalkhel area with Malik Irfanullah Khan in the chair and discussed the ‘occupation’ of cemetery land by the ex-minister Malik Shah Mohammad Khan.

On the occasion, Malik Hazratullah and Malik Naeem said the burial place was established on Waqf land before the partition in 1939 and since then local tribesmen used to bury their dead there.

They alleged that illegal construction, including a boundary wall and installation of a gate, was in progress on the cemetery land at the behest of the former minister in a bid to occupy it.

An elder claimed the cemetery land was a Waqf property in the revenue record and that local residents would not allow anyone to occupy it.

Later, the protesters reached the cemetery and stopped the ongoing construction work there.

A large police contingent also reached the area to pursue the protesters to end agitation.

Later, the protesters ended the agitation. Their representatives met the local administration officials and informed them about their sole demand.

The government authorities asked the revenue department to produce the record of cemetery land.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2024