KOHAT: Continuing cold spell has adversely affected the guava produce in Kohat, inflicting losses on the farm owners.

The farmers of Kaghazai area, which is famous for its quality fruit, are hardly able to meet their expenses.

Masood Khan Khalil, owner of an orchard, told Dawn that instead of getting 50 crates per day he was getting only two to three crates daily from his orchard.

He said the worst weather conditions had forced many orchard owners along the main road to build commercial plazas on their lands.

Naveed, another orchard owner, said he could not even afford to buy polythene sheets for the plants to protect them frost. He said a majority of owners failed to get the expected harvest this year. He said the price of Kohat’s special guava was Rs1,500 per crate.

AFGHAN REFUGEES HELD: The police and elite force personnel arrested 11 Afghan refugees and 55 suspects during an operation in remote Jarma area along the Indus Highway on Sunday.

The operation was led by ASP Saddar Danial Ahmed and SHO Qismat Khan on the directives of district police officer Mansoor Aman. Women police, bomb disposal squad personnel and sniffer dogs participated in the operation continued for six hours.

The areas around Kohat prison, Cheechana Afghan refugee camp along the Indus Highway, Kamar Dhand and Muslimabad were searched. Three facilitators of proclaimed offenders were also among those arrested.

A Kalashnikov, a rifle, a shotgun, four pistols and hundreds cartridges were also seized from the outlaws.

MOCK EXERCISE: The police and elite force conducted a joint counter-terrorism mock exercise to keep themselves ready for tackling any threat on Sunday. The drill was supervised by ASP Danial Ahmed.

DPO Mansoor Aman had ordered regular mock exercises to review the preparedness of the force in case of any untoward incident. He said such exercises should continue regularly to keep the force ready to face any challenge.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2020