SWABI: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl provincial general secretary Attaulhaq Darvaish has said the party’s planned Azadi March to Islamabad on Oct 27 will be a referendum against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.

Speaking at public meetings in different localities here on Tuesday, he said the marchers would stay in Islamabad until the government was ousted.

He urged the workers to be ready for the peaceful march to the capital and not be afraid of arrests or other tactics potentially used by the government to dislodge the march.

Mr Darvaish said the people no longer supported the government and were ready to rise against the ‘corrupt regime’, which had failed to fulfill the promises made with the people before the general elections.

Amid sky-rocketing prices of commodities it has become difficult for the common people to meet both needs meet, he said.

He warned that if the government tried to block the march then the entire country would be in lockdown.

Meanwhile, JUI-N (Nazriyati) central chief Maunala Khalil Ahmad Mukhlis on Tuesday said the party fully supported the strike of doctors and paramedical staff against the proposed privatisation of the hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Visiting the protesting camp of the doctors at Bacha Khan Hospital Complex Shahmansoor, he said the authorities’ crackdown on protesting doctors was against the law.

THREE KILLED: Three persons were killed and four others injured in different incidents on Tuesday, police said.

A man was killed and four others injured in a firing incident at a wedding party in Doubian village.

Yar Hussain police officials said the victim was identified as Mazeed Khan, adding they had registered FIR against accused Mohsin Khan and Sangeen Khan on the complaint of Mehran Khan, the victim’s father. They said a woman dispute caused the incident, adding the injured were hospitalised.

In another incident, a man named Faisal Shahzad was shot dead in Chota Lahor. The cause of the incident was stated to be a monetary dispute.

A wall collapsed in Sherakhund village, burying alive a man named Mustafa Kamal.

Meanwhile, a woman committed suicide by consuming poisonous pills in Bamkhel village, the police said.

SCHOOL UPGRADED: District education officer Khan Mohammad Swati announced upgradation of government high school, Shinkiari, to higher secondary school on Tuesday.

He announced the decision while speaking at annual day function of the school.

He said more rooms would be constructed to accommodate students to be enrolled in first and second year classes. He said appointment of teaching and other staff would also be ensured.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2019