LAKKI MARWAT: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl took out a rally in Bannu city on Saturday to protest increasing inflation and unemployment.

Led by party’s general secretary Haji Mohammad Niaz Khan, the rally started from the Haq Nawaz Mosque and converged near the press club building. A large number of JUI-F activists and people from different walks of life participated, holding banners and raising slogans against the government.

Speaking on the occasion, former provincial minister Malik Umer Farooq Khan Advocate, former MPA Maulana Abdul Razzaq, Maulana Ezazullah and others declared that the flawed policies of the incumbent government had caused inflation. They said the rulers had promised provision of jobs to the youths but millions had lost their means of livelihood.

They also blasted the government for the poor law and order situation and said four women vocational trainers had been killed in North Waziristan in broad daylight. The JUI-F leaders said rates of electricity and gas were being increased on the dictation of IMF.

On one hand the residents of Bannu and other southern districts are facing excessive power outages, and on the other, they are subjected to pay inflated utility bills, they claimed and held the rulers responsible for the woes of the poor.

The JUI-F leaders said a large number of people from Bannu would participate in the long march of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement on March 26 to oust the rulers.

BODY FOUND: The body of a sixteen-year-old boy was found in the fields near Nari Mir Abbas locality of Bannu, police said on Saturday.

They said the deceased identified as Mohammad Aziz had been killed with a firearm. They said the body was shifted to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem.

Police registered a case on the complaint of Shafiur Rehman, a brother of the deceased.

Also, the police on Saturday arrested scores of suspects during a search and strike operation in parts of the Lakki city and rural localities.

An official said commandos of the Elite Force and the Counter-Terrorism Department also assisted the police.

“The law enforcers captured 40 suspects during raids and seized two guns, four pistols, a rifle and ammunition from them, maintained the official, adding separate cases had been registered against the arrested men.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2021