TIMERGARA: PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari will visit Lower Dir on Sunday (May 7) to attend a function marking party leader Zahir Shah’s death anniversary.

Mr Zahir was killed along with four workers on May 7, 2013, when a remote-controlled bomb explosion ripped through his brother’s election rally in Babagam Maidan area.

PPP district information secretary Alam Zeb told reporters here on Wednesday that Mr Zardari would attend the Zahir Shah death anniversary function in Odigram area on May 7.

He said the PPP co-chairman would address a public meeting to be held in connection with the death anniversary.

Mr Zeb said more than 1,000 party workers would perform security duty on the occasion.

Also in the day, a PPP delegation consisting of former minister Mehmood Zeb, former MPA Mohammad Zamin, Mujahid and Alam Zeb, met Lower Dir deputy commissioner Attaur Rehman and DPO Kashif Zulfiqar in their respective offices and formally sought the administration’s permission for the holding of the May 7 event.

They also informed the two about the visit of Mr Zardari.

The DC and DPO assured the visitors of the administration’s full cooperation for the holding of the event.

HAJ QUOTA DEMANDED: The elderly people of Lower Dir have demanded special Haj quota for themselves in the current year.

A group of aspiring Hajis aged over 60 years, including Umar Wahid, Kalimullah, Rasool Mohammad, Dilaram Khan and Rozamin Khan, told reporters at the Timergara Press Club that they and many other locals from their age bracket wanted to perform Haj this year.

They said they were distressed after failing the Haj Scheme 2017 lucky draw and therefore, the government should allocate a special Haj quota for them and other citizens aged above 60 years.

ROOMS BUILT: Lal Qila Maidan tehsil naib nazim Hanifullah Khan on Wednesday inaugurated two rooms at the Government Primary School Bandai and said the rooms would help further the cause of education in the area.

The school was torched by militants in 2009 forcing students to study in the open for years.

Addressing the inaugural function, the naib nazim said the government was spending a huge sum of money to ensure provision of basic facilities to public sector schools in the province.

He said the rooms were constructed at a cost of Rs1.6 million by the school’s Parent-Teacher Council.

The naib nazim said the government had approved the establishment of a girls’ degree college in Maidan and that work on it would begin soon.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2017