CHITRAL: The restaurant set up in a grounded Fokker aircraft of PIA situated in the vicinity of Chitral Airport was reopened on Monday, a day after the district administration had sealed it on the grounds that it was a security threat to flight operation.

The district administration had imposed section 144 on the request of the airport manager, who had earlier asked the owner of the restaurant, Sirajul Mulk, to remove the grounded aircraft from the place.

The owner of the restaurant uploaded a news on the social media, saying that ‘on the intervention of commissioner, Malakand division, Riaz Khan Mehsud, I am glad to announce that the episode involving the Fokker Friendship Restaurant has come to an amicable end’.

He also apologised to deputy commissioner Khurshid Alam Mehsud for any remark made by him that might have hurt him (the DC).

The sealing off of the eatery owned by a man known to be a friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan and member of his task force on tourism had become the talk of the town. While using social media, the owner came down hard on the the district administration, particularly the deputy commissioner, for closing the restaurant.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019