KHAR: The local political administration on Sunday night arrested two people after seizing a huge cache of explosives and bomb-making material from a truck in Khar tehsil.

An administration official said acting on a tip-off, the levies personnel traced a truck parked in the border area of Khar and recovered 94 bags of explosives, wire and bomb-making material from its different parts.

He said the truck’s driver and cleaner were arrested as they tried to escape.

The official said the two were later shifted to Khar for interrogation. He claimed the seized explosives were to be used for terrorism in the area.

VACCINE UNAVAILABLE: The intending Hajis have complained about unavailability of anti-meningitis vaccine in Bajaur Agency.

They told Dawn on Monday that no healthcare centre in the tribal region and not even hospitals in the agency headquarters, Khar, had anti-meningitis vaccine and therefore, they’d to travel to Timergara, Mardan, Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the vaccination, which was mandatory for proceeding to Saudi Arabia.

“We visited many health centres, including the Agency Headquarters Hospital Khar, but didn’t get vaccine against meningitis, flu and other diseases,” said Ahmad Khan, of Lagahri Mamond.

The intending Hajis said they’re stressed out as the health department had failed to ensure supply of anti-meningitis vaccine to local health centres though the Saudi government had made it necessary for intending Hajis to get vaccinated against meningitis and other diseases.

They said more than 1,500 people from Bajaur Agency had planned to perform Haj this year.

The intending Hajis demanded that the federal Haj and religious affairs minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and Fata Secretariat officials ensure availability of anti-meningitis vaccination at hospitals in the agency.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2015

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