22 July 2004	Thursday	04 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

PESHAWAR, July 21: Chief of Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad was stopped from entering the Frontier Region Darra Adamkhel, where he was scheduled to speak at a jirga on Wednesday.

The Frontier Region's administration stopped the JI chief and workers at Spina Thana check post. Contingents of the Khassadar force had blocked Peshawar-Kohat road at the check post which resulted in a huge traffic jam.

The NWFP governor banned political activities in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the entry of political leaders. Eyewitnesses said that Assistant Political Agent Darra Adamkhel Zahir Shah informed the JI chief that his entry had been banned.

NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, parliamentarians and a large number of workers were also accompanying Mr Ahmad. When the political authorities blocked his entry, the workers staged a sit-in on the road.

The angry workers blocked road for about an hour and chanted slogans against the authorities. They also scuffled with the Khassadar force. A spokesman for the JI told Dawn that Mr Ahmad was to speak a selected gathering in the FR Dera Adamkhel, saying that there was no legal justification to the ban on the entry of political leaders in the tribal area.

Speaking to the protesters the JI chief denounced the ban on his entry and said that the decision was illegal. He said the government had imposed restrictions on the visit of its own citizens in the tribal area while foreigners had been exempted.