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| January 12, 2002 | Saturday | Shawwal 27, 1422 |
Darra merger with Kohat opposed
KOHAT, Jan 11: All the elders from five main tribes of Darra Adam Khel on Thursday took out a procession to condemn the government decision to declare the tribal area as settled one and merge it with Kohat district.
It was the third consecutive day of protests which were led by the Darra peace committee whose chief is former MNA from the area, Aslam Khan Afridi.
The protestors, after marching through the bazaar, chanting anti-government slogans, gathered near the office of the committee where the speakers addressed the people.
They demanded that the independence of the area should be retained as it was promised to them by the father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and guaranteed by the Constitution.
They said the tribal areas had their own social and cultural norms and laws which were totally different from those of the settled areas. They claimed that the affairs in the tribal areas were being run in an effective and peaceful manner, therefore, the government decision to merge them with the settled areas was wrong.
Later, the procession dispersed peacefully while warning the government of strong resistance if the plan was implemented without taking the tribal elders into confidence who were in no way ready to succumb to any kind of pressure.
JAIL VACATED: The army has handed over Kohat District Jail administration to the Frontier Constabulary and staff concerned following the shifting of all the Al-Qaeda men from here.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and three national security agencies brought here at least 152 Al-Qaeda fighters — mostly Arab and European Muslims — during the last 20 days from various border towns of the province for interrogation.
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