January 18, 2002	Friday	Ziqa'ad 3, 1422

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MINGORA, Jan 17: A Loya Jirga held in the Malakand division on Thursday expressed concern over the arrest of banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi workers and urged the government to stop the crackdown.

The chairman of Jirga, Khurshid Alam, presided over the meeting. Dr Khalid Mehmood Khalid, Humayun Khan, Bakht Kamal, and others spoke.

They said that since the government had banned the TNSM, the crackdown on its workers was “unjust”. They asked the authorities what was the fault of the innocent people, who were arrested at their houses without any reason.

Speakers pointed out that those taken into custody did nothing else except seeking enforcement of Shariat in Malakand. They recalled that all the past governments had promised to enforce Shariat in Malakand, but none of them had kept their words.

They demanded of the government of Afghanistan to release the detained Pakistanis.

The Jirga resolved that the future line of action would be announced if the TNSM workers were not released by Jan 22.

COLLAPSE: A four-storey building on the main Airport Road collapsed on Thursday, leaving two persons injured. Another person, Ali Khan, was reported missing after the collapse.