BUNER: A jirga of Salarzai tribe, which was also attended by leaders of different political parties here on Tuesday, opposed setting up of a marble city on its soil, urging the government to purchase land elsewhere and avoid use of force, otherwise the tribesmen would resist.

The jirga was attended by Malik Fazal Maabood of PML-N, Saeedur Rehman Mufakir of JUI-F, Aalam Khan of JI, Ishaq Khan of ANP, Amir Nawab, Said Mohammad, Ali Rehman and others.

Talking to mediapersons, the jirga members said they would stiffly oppose setting up of marble city in their area.

They said the Salarzai area had limited agriculture land and had very low water table, adding digging deep wells would badly affect water table and people would face shortage of drinking water.

They said marble deposits were also available in rest of the Buner district and that the marble city should be set up in an area where raw material could easily be transported.

They recalled that the project was also cancelled in the past because of their strong opposition, and that they were united against execution of the project in future as well.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2019