KOHAT: The leaders of all Khyber Pakhtunkhwa business community joined their colleagues in Kohat in their protest after its two arrested leaders were sent to prison by a local court on Saturday.

They rushed to Kohat on the request of the local leaders to express solidarity with them.

Meanwhile, a parallel union in the city refused to participate in the ongoing protest against the administration. Its president Javed Noor said that the tajir grand alliance had been creating impediments in the way of anti-encroachment drive and making illegal demands.

Threaten to expand the protest to other areas of the province

On Friday, additional district and sessions judge Sumbal Naseer had cancelled the bail before arrest of tajir action committee president Abid Khan and additional secretary general of mushtarika markets union Asghar Ayub Paracha who were then shifted to the city police station.

A complete shutter down was observed on Saturday and a rally was taken out from the main bazaar which passed through the Peshawar square and culminated at the Kohat Press Club.

The participants wearing black armbands also chanted slogans against the administration.

It was led by the president of all Khyber Pakhtunkhwa business community president Mehar Elahi Khan, other office-bearers and president of Peshawar Saddar Shakeel Ahmed.

Addressing the business community, Mr Elahi said that the traders of whole Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were united.

He said that the commissioner was a wise man and he should have resolved the matter through table talks.

He said that taking such a minor issue of a brawl between the assistant commissioner and the business community to courts clearly exposed the administration that it wanted to resolve the matter on roads.

He warned that if the administration did not quash the case the protest strike by businessmen of Kohat would be spread to the whole province and Islamabad. At a press conference, Mr Elahi demanded immediate release of the arrested leaders.

Earlier, tajir action committee secretary general Mansoor Paracha said that the administration was forcing them to shutter downs instead of resolving the matters through table talks.

SUPPORT SOUGHT: Chairman of an NGO Da Haq Aawaz, Haji Mohammad Shafique, has urged philanthropists to invest in saving the future of the country by donating for rehabilitation of drug addicts at his centre.

He was talking to mediapersons during the visit of the district police officer and staff of the anti-narcotics intelligence wing to the centre.

He said that they could accommodate only 48 addicts at a time at the centre and also charge the patients due to high cost of the treatment.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2019