KARAK: The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) has suspended gas supply to three southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some parts of Punjab following complaints that people of Kanda area of Karak have acquired illegal connections from the main supply line here.

The people of Kanda and adjacent localities have got illegal connections from the main line supplying gas to Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Bhakkar and other parts of Punjab.

SNGPL’s regional spokesman Raza Khan Khattak told Dawn on Sunday that the gas supply would remain suspended until the illegal connections were disconnected from the main supply line.

Residents of the affected areas have been facing difficulties due to suspension of the gas supply, while hotels and tandoors remained closed on Sunday.

The spokesman said that the people had got illegal connections from the main transmission line which might lead to fatal accidents. He said that the company would never allow direct connections from the main supply line.

Action taken over illegal connections from main line, says spokesman

IDPS RETURN URGED: Jamaat-i-Islami Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief Prof Ibrahim said on Sunday that the military operation was continuing in the tribal belt for the last 14 years without any result and demanded of the government to give a timeframe for end of the operation in North Waziristan.

He was speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected JI district president Maulana Tasleem Iqbal here. He said that one million people of North Waziristan were displaced due to the operation and asked the government to ensure early return of the tribesmen to their homes.

The JI provincial chief said that Pakistan suffered $100 billion losses due to the war on terrorism and got only $22 billion assistance from the foreign countries. He said that Pakistan should come out of this war as soon as possible. He claimed that the policies of retired General Pervez Musharraf were still in place, as former president Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif failed to give own policy on the matter.

Prof Ibrahim said that JI respected the right of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek to hold sit-ins as part of their struggle for bringing reforms, but it disliked display of music and dance in such rallies.

He claimed that then chief election commissioner Fakhruddin G Ibrahim resigned over his failure to conduct free, fair and transparent election in the country.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014