SHANGLA: The Shangla bar association on Tuesday vowed to resist the proposed imposition of taxes in the Malakand division and ‘attempts’ to deprive the people of ownership of their forests.

The decision came at a meeting of the bar presided over its president Fayaz Ahmad Advocate.

The participants said they won’t allow the government to abolish the special status of the division. They said the government had started a survey in Shangla to ‘deprive’ the people of right over their forests.

On the occasion, Mr Ahmad said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had declared the Shangla forests as reserved, which meant that the locals won’t have royalty over them.

“In Swat, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has authorised the forest department to provide forest royalty to locals, but not in Shangla,” he claimed.

Bar general secretary Waqif Shah said imposition of taxes in Malakand division would cause further misery to locals as their economy had already been destroyed by natural disasters and militancy. He said people won’t accept imposition of taxes in Malakand.

FIRE: A motorcycle showroom and a repair shop were gutted in a fire in Baily Baba Bazaar of Alpuri tehsil on Monday night. A Rescue 1122 team put out the blaze.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022