December 05, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1427

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MARDAN, Dec 4: The naib nazim of the Takhtbhai tehsil, Malik Gohar Ali, was unseated on Monday through a no-confidence motion. Twenty-two members of the tehsil council voted on the resolution — 13 for it and nine against it. Presiding officer Mehrunnisa Afridi and the naib nazim did not vote. A female member of the council, belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami, did not attend the session.

The no-trust motion against the naib nazim, supported by the Awami National Party and Jamaat-i-Islami, had been tabled in the tehsil council about two months ago.

Following a controversy, the movers of the resolution and the naib nazim’s group had approached the Peshawar High Court which had stayed the process on Sept 14. On Sept 28, the court had ruled in favour of the movers and fixed Dec 4 for voting on the motion.

PROTESTS: Two separate demonstrations were staged here on Monday — one against the closure of the Punjab Regimental Centre road and the other against the shifting of the local Sabzi Mandi to the Surakh Dheri near Sheikh Maltoon Town.

The road linking Mardan with Baghdada, Katlang, Takhtbhai tehsil and other areas was closed down by army officials after the Dargai suicide attack.

The demonstration against the closure of road was led by nazim of Union Council Baghdada Hamayun Khilji. Protesters reportedly called for immediate reopening of the road.

They claimed that the road was the only link between the city and various surrounding areas, which was used by thousands of people for their day-to-day business, adding that the district courts were also located near the road.

They claimed that this road was used by thousands of people from centuries and no untoward incident was occurred in the premises of PRC in the last 150 years but now the road was closed in the wake of recent attack on recruits of PRC at Dargai, which is injustice and cruelty particularly with the locals.

They also announced to stage 12-hour hunger strike daily against the closure of the road in front of the Punjab Regimental Cenre and said that the protest would continue until the road was reopened.

Meanwhile, another procession was taken out by dealers of fruit and vegetables despite heavy rain to condemn the authorities’ decision to shift the local Sabzi Mandi. Protesters said that they would resist the decision to shift the market to Surakh Dheri.

The Mardan local government had decided to shift the vegetable market near the posh locality of Sheikh Maltoon Town, which most of dealers were resisting and demanding another suitable site.

The demonstration was led by leader of fruit and vegetable traders Haji Islam Khan and Arshad Manan Yousafzai.

Meanwhile, the Awami National Party (ANP) supported the protests against the closure of the PRC road and shifting of the Sabzi Mandi and urged the authorities to reconsider their decisions and rescind them in the larger public interest.

A meeting of the party was held here at the local office, which was presided over by its district president Rahmat Gul.

The ANP issued a three-day deadline for the reopening of the road and said that if the road did not reopen by then the party workers would hold protest demonstrations.