SWABI: An 18-year-old boy belonging to Peshawar drowned in the Pehur High Level Canal (PHCL) here on Sunday, taking the number of drowned people in the canal and the Indus River to 16 in a month.

The victim, Mohammad Tausif, had come to his relatives’ house in the district. He along with other youth reached the canal to enjoy bathing. However, he entered the danger zone and drowned, Luqman Khan, a rescue official, said.

He said after four hours of continuous struggle they found the body and handed it over to relatives who dispatched it to Peshawar for burial.

Meanwhile, the Rescue 1122 officials have issued a warning to the people to stay away from bathing in the PHLC and Indus River. They said it was the responsibility of the parents to prevent their children from endangering their lives.

Separately, the police on Sunday arrested a three-member gang for murdering a money changer, Kamran Khan, in the Topi’s main bazaar and snatching Rs5 million from him.

District police officer Mohammad Shoaib said the incident had occurred on Nov 24, last year, when the money changer was targeted while going to his shop. He said it was a challenge for the police to trace the killers.

He said the prime suspect, Mohammad Israr, belonging to Shahbaz Gari, Mardan, was arrested, who during investigation, disclosed the names of his two accomplices, who were later also arrested.

PROTEST: Jamaat-i-Islami activists staged a protest demonstration against the price hike and unbearable electricity loadshedding on Sunday.

The JI leaders and workers gathered in Shewa Adda area of Razaar and marched through different roads chanting slogans against the government for failing to fulfill the pledges made with the people.

On the occasion, JI district chief Mian Iftikhar Bacha said the PTI leadership did not bother to think about the difficulties confronted by the people, and only blamed the previous governments for poor state of affairs.

Amaduddin Yousafzai, the JI’s youth wing president, said the duration of power outages had increased. He said Pesco was forcing people to pass sleepless nights.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2021