KOHAT: The tribesmen continued a protest sit-in for the seventh straight day on Tuesday over the prolonged closure of a number of coal mines in the Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision.

The protesters, including elders and members of a local youth organisation of the Sunnikhel sub-clan of Zarghunkhel tribe, are staging the sit-in at the Abbas Square led by local cleric, Maulvi Muslim Khan.

The elders told mediapersons that coal mining was the only source of living for the poor tribesmen, but the prolonged closure of most of the mines had adversely affected them. They said the authorities were also tight-lipped over illegal mining in the area by some influential people.

Akbar Khan Afridi, an elder, said coal mines in Sunnikhel area had long been closed, adding delay in formation of a coal committee to settle the issue of distribution of income from mining was because of the differences among the two main parties over composition of the body.

He added the parties led by Mullah Abdullah and Farooq Afridi insisted inclusion of names of their choosing in the committee.

Another elder, Ali Nawaz Akhorwal, said closure of coal mines had rendered a large number of labourers jobless. He said there were about 500 coal mines in Darra and 100 labourers were working at each mine. He said about 10 tonnes of coal was extracted from each mine per day.

FRUIT MARKET: The wholesale dealers association of the government fruit and vegetable market has condemned the tehsil municipal administration for granting no objection certificate to the ‘illegal’ private market.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, president of the government fruit and vegetable market’s body Fayyaz Aridi accused assistant tax superintendent Shahid Khattak of doing away with the bylaws to not allow a second fruit market within a distance of 15 kilometres.

Mr Afridi said the private market had been allowed at a distance of 500 metres from the city whereas the government market had been constructed seven kilometres away.

He said the private market was causing millions of losses to the wholesale dealers of the government fruit market.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022