GHALANAI: Shaheed Banda area of Pandiali tehsil in Mohmand Agency is the most backward locality in the region as it lacks basic facilities of life like education, particularly of girls, health and water.

With a population of over 10,000 people, the area is located at a distance of about 20 kilometres from Ekkaghound tehsil to the north and eight kilometres from Charsadda district to the west. The problems were highlighted at a jirga organised by the local NGO, Shaheed Banda Youth Welfare Organisation, here the other day.

Elders, including Malik Mohammad, Malik Gulab Jan, Malik Aslam, Malik Peer Said, former candidate from NA-36 Malik Iqrar Kahn, were among those in attendance.

Addressing the jirga, president of the organisation, Gul Zada Khan, and other elders pointed out that most students had to quit education after primary as there was no middle or high school in the area. They said that boys primary school in Main Pati area was closed since its construction in 2013.

The tribal elders complained that their children sought admission to schools in Matta Mughal area of Charsadda, but the district administration refused, telling them that they belonged to the tribal area. They said the area had only one girls primary school.

They maintained that there was no health centre in the area, and the patients had to be taken to Shabqadar hospital. Serious patients, especially pregnant women, died while on way to hospital. The elders also complained of water shortage, which forced people to consume lake water.

The jirga participants said they had invited the concerned authorities for the meeting to listen to their problems, but no official bothered to come. They demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and Mohmand political agent to resolve their problems.

NGOs MEETING: Mohmand additional political agent Abdul Hameed Jan asked the NGOs to consult the local administration before initiating any development project in the area. He was speaking at a monthly meeting of the local NGOs at Ghalanai the other day. Agency coordinator for FDMA Dr Irfan Bangash was also in attendance.

Hameed Jan urged the NGOs to extend their activities to backward and remote areas of the agency. He also asked the WFP officials to extend their food distribution programme to all the schools in the agency.

He urged the head of the Rural Livelihood Community Infrastructure Project (RLCIP) to also cover the ignored and conflict-hit areas of the agency.

RLCIP agency coordinator Shaukat Khan informed the meeting that they had initiated 25 development schemes across Mohmand.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2015

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