SWAT: Police have lodged First Information Report (FIR) against 22 workers and local leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for violating Section 144 and organising a rally.

The rally, which took place on August 14, was attended by around 1,500 people including Mingora City mayor Shahid Ali and former MPA Fazal Hakim.

According to the FIR, filed at Banar police station in Mingora, the rally was conducted in clear defiance of the Section 144 imposed by the Swat district administration. It says that under the leadership of Mingora mayor Shahid Ali and former MPA Fazal Hakeem, about 1,500 people took out a rally and chanted slogans against the state institutions.

The FIR says that PTI flags were displayed during the event, coinciding with the Independence Day. It adds that the rally blocked the road, causing inconvenience to commuters.

Former Banar nazim, former councillors Naseem Akhtar, Ibn Amin and Shaukat Ali, chairman Ziaul Haq Tajik, Hakeem Sardar Ali, Aamir Khan Amankot, PTI leaders Salahuddin Yousafzai, Akhtar Khan, Iqbal Kakaji, Fazal Subhan, Ajmal Khan, Jahanzeb Google, Saad Khan, Aftab Alam, Farooq Ahmed, Akbar Hussain, Khurshid Dada, Mohammad Rehman alias Spin have been nominated in the FIR.

So far, three persons have been arrested in connection with the rally. However, 14 accused have secured pre-arrest bail from the court of district and sessions judge.

KILLED: Two children were killed when a wall collapsed in College Colony, Saidu Sharif, on Tuesday.

The victims were identified as six-year-old Sher Saeed, son of Noor Saeed from Buner, and five-year-old Mohammad Zubair, son of Haider Ali, a resident of College Colony.

The officials of Rescue 1122 retrieved the bodies from debris.

Sources said that concerns about the wall had been shown by locals nearly four months ago. However, no concrete measures were taken to address the issue, they added.

The incident has also raised questions about the response of local authorities to such safety concerns.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2023