February 4, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 5, 1427

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KHAR (Bajaur Agency), Feb 3: The governor’s Fata secretariat on Friday distributed more than Rs2.7 million as compensation among heirs of the people killed in the US attack on Bajaur.

The compensation cheques were distributed at a special ceremony held in the agency headquarters.

Rs200,000 was paid for each dead and Rs50,000 to each of the three injured tribesmen.

The ceremony took an awkward turn when tribesman Sher Afzal, whose 11 family members had died in the attack, refused to accept the cheque. It was, however, received by another man from the area.

Another cheque was given to Mohammad Rahim who had also lost all members of his family.

The ceremony was attended by relatives of the victims, elders of the Mamond subdivision and other areas and officials of the political administration.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Fata Arbab Shahzad said that death of innocent people in the air strike had shoked the government. He said the Bajaur Agency was most peaceful of the tribal agencies.

Talking to journalists, he said that the government was aware of problems of tribal journalists. The political authorities had been directed to extend cooperation to journalists of the area, he added.

About the disappearance of Hayatullah Khan in North Waziristan, he said that the journalist had been kidnapped by militants. He rejected the reports that Hayatullah was in the custody of secret agencies. The security forces had been directed to step up efforts to find the kidnapped journalist, he added.