Policeman killed in Dir attack

TIMERGARA, July 15: A policeman was killed when unidentified militants attacked a checkpost at Mian Kallay in Jandol area of Lowe Dir early on Sunday morning.

The law enforcers, manning the checkpost, countered the attack and exchanged fire with the militants for about 20 minutes. A constable identified as Usman Zada, a resident of Banda Talash, was killed in the attack. The attackers escaped taking advantage of darkness.

The law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area soon after the incident and started a search operation to track down the attackers.

Usman Zada had joined police on Dec 12, 2010. He was recently posted at Munda police station. He left behind a widow, two daughters and a son to mourn his death.

The deceased constable was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard with official honour. District Police Officer Salim Marwat and other officers were present on the occasion. —Correspondent

Polio vaccination  

MARDAN, July 15: The National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF), a non-governmental organisation, has revealed that about 1,700 parents in Mardan have so far refused to administer polio drops to their children.

EPI coordinator Dr Mohammad Kamal and NRDF district coordinator Mohammad Iftikhar while speaking at press conference here on Sunday said majority of the refusing parents was from the urban areas of Mardan.

They said there was need of creating awareness among the parents about importance of polio vaccine so that their reservations could be removed.

They urged religious scholars to come forward to foil the negative propaganda against polio vaccination.

They said at least 358,000 children would be administered oral polio vaccine during the campaign scheduled from July 16 to 18. They said 905 polio teams had been constituted to carry out the campaign.—Correspondent

Industrialist kidnapped

KARAK, July 15: The owner of a gypsum factory was kidnapped by unidentified men at gunpoint from Banda Daud Shah tehsil on Sunday.

According to police, the victim, Gul Zaman, was going to his factory in the Jatta Ismail Khel area of Banda Daud Shah when unidentified men bundled him into a car at gunpoint and drove away.

The police soon after receiving information about the kidnapping incident blocked exit points of the district and started search for the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, nine passengers were injured when a car collided with a Suzuki van on Karak-Sabirabad road on Sunday.

The injured, including three women, were taken to the district headquarters hospital for treatment.

Two people were injured when a car collided with a pick-up van near Paindi Banda on Indus Highway. The injured, both residents of Bannu district, were shifted to hospital.—Correspondent

Rain kills two in Khar

KHAR, July 15: Two persons were killed while roads and other infrastructure were badly affected as torrential rain triggered flash floods in different areas of Barang tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Sunday.

The locals said the heavy rain started on the night between Saturday and Sunday and continued till morning, causing flood in the hill torrents that damaged roads and infrastructure.

“The flood swept away two men, Janat Khan and Fayaz Gul of Kot area of Malakand Agency, when they were  fishing in the river at Salipati ,”an official of Bajaur levies told Dawn.

He said search for the bodies had been launched. The rain and flood also damaged Barang-Daragi main road and building of the government girls primary school in the area.

The flood washed away thousands of acres of agriculture land and crops while the electricity and telephonic system was badly damaged in the region.—Correspondent

Lack of facilities irk tourists

ABBOTTABAD, July 15: Tourists to hilly stations of Galyat and Abbottabad confront a host of problems due to lack of road infrastructure and other facilities. Nathigali, Ayubia, Donga Gali, Thandiani and other hilly areas of Abbottabad witnessed a huge rush of tourists ahead of Ramazan.

Tourists said hotel occupancy was 100 per cent and many families had to spend nights in their vehicles and cars as the hotel owners charged more than double for rooms.

Two major problems which caused great inconvenience to the tourists was lack of parking facility and public toilets. Traffic remained choked for hours at different points on main Abbottabad-Nathiagali road.

Worst traffic jam was also witnessed in Abbottabad city due to rush of tourists as the Karakorum Highway remained clogged for hours.

The Galyat Development Authority has failed to provide facilities to the tourists.—Correspondent

New law ‘protects’ NA speaker

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, July 15: Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi has said that after enactment of the contempt of court law the NA speaker would not appear in the court.

“The speaker has consulted legal team and arrived at the conclusion that after the enactment of the contempt of court law the speaker would not appear in the court,” he said while talking to reporters at the circuit house here on Sunday.

Mr Kundi said that the PPP-led government was against the confrontation among the state institutions, adding the forces having such designs would be frustrated.

He said that the speaker was the custodian of the lower house of the parliament and for that very reason he had been exempted from contempt proceedings under the new law.—Correspondent