KOHAT: The police arrested seven proclaimed offenders and three drug peddlers during an operation against anti-social elements in various areas of Kohat on Saturday.

A statement issued by the office of the district police officer said that the police of all the seven police stations rounded seven proclaimed offenders wanted for years in murder cases and other heinous crimes and three drug peddlers. The police also recovered weapons and hashish during the operation.

The DPO said that the purpose of operations was to maintain peace and curb crimes in the region. The seizure included three Kalashnikovs, five shotguns, four rifles, 14 pistols and four kilograms of hashish and heroin.

FIR PROTESTED: Shia leaders here have condemned lodging of an FIR by the administration for offering Eid prayers at a house in KDA Town in the absence of a mosque there.

Divisional president of Imamia Ulema Council Allama Khursheed Ahmed Jawadi, provincial president of Ulema Council Allama Hamid Hussain Imami and others said at a press conference here that 20 years ago a resident of KDA had donated his house for a seminary and mosque.

They said that the people offered prayers there, but the administration had now sealed it against the rules of the government township. They said that earlier they would offer prayers at Qaumi Imambargah in the city, but now there were over 500 inhabitants who needed a mosque in KDA Town.

They have appealed to the Minister for Safron Shehryar Afridi and MPA Ziaullah Bangash to allow them to offer prayers at the house or construct a mosque for them.

They said that they had given an application to the deputy commissioner weeks ahead of Eidul Azha to resolve the matter, but he did not pay heed and sealed the house on the pretext that it was a residential plot.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2019