March 9, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 5, 1424

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LAKKI MARWAT, March 8: Residents of Kot Kashmir have threatened to block the Indus Highway and observe hunger strike against PTCL development branch’s alleged malpractices.

The president of Kot Kashmir Phone Subscribers Association, Saeedur Rehman, talking to this correspondent said that a telephone exchange was installed some 20 years ago and was working up to the satisfaction of the people.

He said that during the Nawaz government, a 400-line digital exchange was sanctioned, but unfortunately owing to some political interests the telephone exchange was installed at Speen Wam in North Waziristan Agency.

Mr Rehman said that a cable of some lines was extended from Shah Tora digital exchange to the area to hush the phone subscribers of Kot Kashmir, but a lot of joints at some places were causing connectivity problems.

He said that while extending the cable, no rules and regulations were followed due to the alleged involvement of PTCL development branch and instead of taking the cable three feet deep in the earth, the contractor extended it at a depth of one and half feet without any concrete covering.

The association president warned that the phone subscribers had decided to launch protest including blockade of Indus Highway and hunger strike against the malpractices of PTCL development branch.

He demanded early repair of the Kot Kashmir exchange or installation of new digital exchange instead. He also criticized the PTCL help line in Islamabad and said that many complaints were registered through it but were of no use.