18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KHAR (Bajaur Agency), July 17: Political authorities on Saturday arrested a number of the Jamaat-i-Islami activists besides deploying levy forces on all checkposts to foil entry of JI leaders, including the party's chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad in the agency.

The Jamaat had planned to hold a public meeting at Madrassa Ahyaul Uloom, Khar, the agency's headquarters, on Sunday to protest against the proposed Agency Councils, misuse of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and the military operation in the South Waziristan region.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, NWFP's senior minister Sirajul Haq and other leaders were likely to attend the meeting, said a local JI leader.

Sources said that the administration refused to allow the party to hold meetings since the NWFP governor banned all political activities in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas.

At least eight JI leaders, including the party's senior vice- president, Maulana Khursheed Ahmad, were arrested. The administration also restricted the movement of the Afghan refugees to their camps to avoid any untoward incident.