MOHMAND: The residents of the 13 disputed villages have set up protest camps in the Ekkaghund Bazaar here to condemn the failure of the Mohmand and Charsadda district administrations to resolve their jurisdiction issue lingering for the last over two decades, due to which they have been neglected in development process.

The locals said the protest camps set up two days ago would continue till the demands of the people were met.

The 13 villages in the Lower Mohmand division were separated from Mohmand 22 years ago and included in the Charsadda district.

Addressing the protesters, local elder Abdul Jalil said the people of the disputed villages had been deprived of development for over two decades. “The disputed villages lack schools, hospitals and roads in this modern era,” he lamented.

The elder said the Peshawar High Court had ordered giving the villages back into the jurisdiction of Mohmand district, but to no avail.

He said non-locals were being recruited in various departments in the tribal district, and demanded that recruitments should be made on the basis of domiciles, and incentives should be given to the locals.

He said that the local farmers faced shortage of irrigation water from the local canal, which had rendered thousands of acres of land barren.

In 2017, he said the Peshawar High Court had ordered re-modeling of the canal, but due to the negligence and lack of interest of the irrigation department, tenders could not be floated till date.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2020