MANSEHRA: The Balakot tehsil council on Wednesday demanded free electricity for the region from two hydropower projects being executed on the Kunhar River.

“The government has already supplied free electricity to the areas where energy projects have been successfully executed, so it should follow suit here, too,” tehsil council chairman Ibrahim Shah told councillors in a session.

The session met with a one-point agenda of seeking free electricity for Balakot.

“We have rendered great sacrifices, so it is our right to enjoy free electricity from Suki Kinari and Balakot hydropower projects being executed on the Kunhar River in our tehsil,” Mr Shah said He said the residents abandoned graveyards of their predecessors for energy projects.

“We have constituted a committee to take up this issue with the government. If it doesn’t listen to us, we will move to all available forums, including the high court, to claim rights,” he said.

Councillors Fahd Yalmaz Khan, Raja Khalid Nawaz, Mohammad Ashfaq Khan, Mohammad Maroof Awan, Mohammad Sajid and Mufti Umer Zeb warned if the government didn’t announce free electricity for Balakot, they would begin street protests.

JIRGA HELD: A jirga attended by deputy commissioners and district police officers of Mansehra and Torghar districts has asked two rival tribes not to lay claim to community ownership rights for thousands of kanals of disputed land in Torghar district until the dispute is resolved permanently.

“This jirga declares that until the district administrations of both Torghar and Mansehra and local MPA settle this land dispute, none of the warring tribes could claim its ownership,” an elder declared during the meeting in Oghi here on Wednesday.

The participants included local MNA Shahzada Gustasab Khan, MPA Laiq Mohammad Khan, deputy commissioners and district police officers, and elders of five main tribes.

The Gujjar and Akazai tribes living in Torghar for centuries pleaded their right to hundreds of kanals of disputed land.

MNA Shahzada Gustasab said the disputed land had claimed many lives but the issue was still unsettled causing tensions.

“This time around, we will address it once and for all,” he said.

Former district nazim Dilroz Khan said both Gujjar and Akazai tribes had agreed to relinquish their land ownership claims and authorised jirga to decide about it.

“Chairman of the district development advisory committee MPA Laiq Mohammad Khan and deputy commissioners of both Mansehra and Torghar districts will now determine land ownership rights,” he said, adding that an announcement about it will be made at an “appropriate” time.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2024