SWABI: Solar-powered streetlights installed in the district headquarters and the Topi city and mosques across the district have stopped functioning for want of maintenance, sources in the district administration and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said here on Monday.

They said that these systems were installed before the 2018 general elections in a bid to lure people to support the PTI candidates, especially Asad Qaiser, the former National Assembly speaker.

The sources said some leaders had told Asad Qaiser that there should be a backup plan for maintenance of the solar streetlights, but he did not pay heed. They said tehsil municipal administrations of Swabi and Topi were executing bodies of the two projects.

A senior leader of the provincially ruling party told Dawn on condition of anonymity that installation of these solar systems was in fact meant to seek votes, which worked well at that time.

TWO KILLED: Two persons were killed in separate incidents on Monday.

In Kalu Khan, two brothers – Azam Khan and Janus Khan –allegedly opened fire on Mohammad Haris, his brother, Shahibzada and cousin, Arif Zaman. As a result, Haris died on the spot, while others escaped unhurt. The cause of the firing was an old enmity.

Separately, a man belonging to Tordher village was killed and two women were injured when a rickshaw collided with a dumper on Swabi-Jehangira Road near Manki village bus stop.

The injured were taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.

Also on Monday, three people were injured when two groups exchanged fire in Panjpir village. The cause of the incident was an old enmity.

JOURNALIST GRIEVED: The wife of Haji Wali Mohammad, a senior journalist, passed away on Monday morning after protracted illness.

She was laid to rest in her ancestral graveyard in Zaida city in the evening.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022