LANDI KOTAL: Jirga Pakistan, a youth organisation of Khyber tribal district, has demanded of the government to lift ban on the movement of all the registered non-custom paid (NCP) vehicles within the district.

The organisation on Wednesday arranged a vehicular procession of more than 150 NCP vehicles from Tirah to Bara.

The vehicles were, however, stopped at a number of security checkposts by the security forces on Mastak-Tirah Road as most of the vehicles were not registered with the district administration.

The vehicles were granted one-time permission to enter Bara via the Sheen Qamar checkpost after an assurance by the organisers of the event to register all unregistered vehicles with the district administration.

The participants of the procession, led by Jirga Pakistan chief Abid Afridi, were accorded a warm welcome in Bara. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Afridi demanded of the provincial government and security officials to lift the undeclared ban on the movement of vehicles within the district.

He said that hundreds of such vehicles were plying on roads in other tribal districts and Malakand division but their movement was restricted in Khyber owing to unspecified reasons.

He said that most of those vehicles were used as taxis and carriers for goods and were the only source of earning for thousands of local residents. “We are ready to furnish full guarantee of the legitimate use of all these vehicles once these are registered by the administration and allowed to ply on all the local roads,” he added.

Meanwhile, elders of Kukikhel tribe in Jamrud said during a press conference that they would not allow auction of local mines to outsiders.

Speaking on the occasion, Malak Sher Shah Afridi said that leasing out the mines to outsiders was not acceptable to local tribesmen. He said that only local residents were entitled to such privileges.

He said that local tribesmen were the owners of the unexplored mines and they were not ready to hand over those to outsiders.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2020