KHAR: Roads in Barang tehsil, the most backward area of Bajaur Agency, are in bad shape, causing numerous problems to commuters and transporters.

Local people told Dawn that almost all the link roads, especially the 24km-long Barang-Khar highway, had been badly damaged owing to floods.

Malik Dawa Khan, a tribal elder, said floods and rains had damaged the roads in the tehsil, but the authorities were not bothered to repair them. He mentioned that the people through jirgas had brought the issue into the notice of local administration many times, but to no effect.

Bakhat Rawan, a social activist, said though almost all the roads in remote tehsil were in bad shape, condition of the Barang-Khar road was pathetic keeping in view the fact that it connected the tehsil with rest of the agency and the country at large. He said several accidents had occurred because of the poor condition of the road. He pointed out that plying of heavy vehicles had been suspended on the highway for last several months due to its poor condition.

Maloom Gul, a religious leader, told Dawn that the people were suffering due to disinterest of the authorities to repair the roads. He said the inhabitants Barang had always been supportive of the policies of the political administration, but their tehsil was kept deprived of better communication facilities.

The people said the political administration had failed to honour its promise to repair the roads. They said residents of some localities in the tehsil had also boycotted the last anti-polio vaccination drive in protest against dilapidated roads.

They demanded of the local administration to start carpeting of the roads on a war footing.

JI CONGREGATION: The local leaders of Jamaat-i-Islami claimed on Monday that large number of people from Bajaur Agency would participate in its two-day annual congregation starting at Azakhel, Nowshera on 22nd of this month.

Talking to reporters, JI Bajaur emir Qari Abdul Majeed said the party workers had accelerated their efforts to bring maximum number of people from Bajaur to the public gathering.

He said several committees comprising senior party workers had been formed to convince people across the agency to participate in the gathering.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2016