BAJAUR: Unidentified miscreants destroyed standing tobacco crop of a farmer in Utmankhel tehsil of Bajaur tribal district, the affected cultivator and police said on Tuesday.

Talking to mediapersons, Malik Shah Zaman, a landlord in Kasi locality of Utmankhel tehsil, said that unknown miscreants destroyed his standing tobacco crop over 30 kanals on Monday night. He said that he came to know about destruction of his crop on Tuesday morning when some of his family members visited their field.

Mr Zaman said he had cultivated tobacco in their agricultural land with the financial support of a tobacco company in order to introduce the tobacco crop in the region.

He claimed that he was the first farmer in the district to cultivate tobacco crop in his land. He urged the district administration and police to take notice of the incident and arrest the miscreants.

Meanwhile, a police official said they had launched investigation into the incident.

ROOF COLLAPSE: Three persons were injured when roof of an under-construction room collapsed in the hilly area of Salarzai tehsil on Tuesday, officials of Rescue 1122 and residents said.

The residents said the incident occurred in Balam Khar locality. They said that three persons of a family identified as Asif Khan, 14, Saleem Khan, 12, and Umair Khan, 6, came under the debris. They said that people of nearby houses retrieved the wounded.

An official of Rescue 1122 in Khar told this correspondent that the wounded had been admitted to the DHQ hospital, Khar, in critical condition.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2021