KHAR: Leaders of different political parties and social activists in Bajaur Agency on Monday threatened to launch a protest drive if the non-government organisations did not replace the non-local employees with the locals by Dec 31.

They made the announcement at a news conference at the Bajaur Press Club. PTI leader Nawabzada Mohammad Hamayun Khan, PML-N youth wing general secretary Mian Ismail Khan, Bajaur Talent Forum chairman Javid Khan and others were present at the presser.

They accused the NGOs of ignoring the local educated people for their projects despite the clear directives by the ministry of Safron and Fata secretariat to give special preference to local people while hiring their staff.

They said the NGOs were bound by Safron ministry and Fata secretariat to hire 80 per cent of their workforce from among the local people. But, they claimed that more than 80 per cent staffers of all the NGOs working in the agency were non-locals. They also criticised the government for not awarding no-objection certificates (NOCs) to scores of NGOs wanting to operate in the agency.

According to them, at least 45 NGOs had been awaiting government permission since along.

They said that Bajaur Agency was the most deserving region for the activities of NGOs because of its backwardness, and urged the government to issue NOC to the international medical organisation, MSF, so it could start providing much-needed medical care to the local residents.

FIRE KILLS CATTLE: Several cattle heads perished when fire broke out in a house in Barang tehsil.

Officials said that fireworks caused the incident during a wedding ceremony in the hilly area of Mana, some 30 kilometres from here the other night. They said a group of friends and relatives of the family of one Aslam Khan were busy in fireworks at the house of his father-in-law when some explosives fell near the cattle pen.

The said that the fire left five cattle, including cows, dead and several more injured. The local people put out the fire before it could spread to other parts of the house. No human causality was reported in the incident.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017