KOHAT: Two people including a councillor of Nasratkhel village were killed on Hangu road by unidentified assailants here on Thursday in two separate incidents.

The Cantonment police said that Asad Rehman, a member of Nasratkhel village council, was sitting in his fields with his friends when unidentified persons fired at him from a nearby guava orchard. He died instantly.

His body was taken to women and children hospital for postmortem and later handed over to his heirs for burial. Police arrested five suspects during a search operation in the area. Police registered FIR on the report of eyewitness Rasheed Mohammad, who said that the deceased had no enmity.

In another incident, unidentified persons opened firing on Hafiz Mohammad Siddique near Chao Banda when he was coming to Kohat from Hangu to watch a football match. He was seriously injured in the attack. He was taken to the women and children hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The Cantonment police registered case against unidentified persons on the report of deceased’s brother Mohammad Haneef.

CEREMONY: Adviser to Chief Minister on Minority Affairs Soran Singh has said that unity and friendly atmosphere among followers of various religions was vital for peaceful co-existence of different communities in the country.

Addressing a cash distribution ceremony here on Thursday, he said that experiences had proved that differences among them affected them and they had to bear the brunt in the shape of negligence by the successive governments.

The ceremony was organised by the Hindu Balmik Sabah at Brigade Mandar here on Thursday to distribute cash among the widows.

Mr Singh urged minorities to forget all differences and share ‘sad and happy’ moments with each other to strengthen social fabric and promote peace in the society.

He said that in the past no attention was paid to the widows and their funds were usurped by vested interest but then nobody could deprive them of their rights.

The function was attended by MPA Ziaullah Bangash, chairman of Hindu Balmik Sabah Qaiser Naz, president Wazir Chand, secretary general Muneer Tabassum, district councillor Naseem Afridi, community elder Nand Laal, Sair Rehmat, Chaudhry Saleem, AD Khokhar and Waheed Hayat.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2016