KHYBER: Pakistan on Sunday donated necessary food items loaded in 17 container trucks on humanitarian grounds to the newly-established Taliban government in Afghanistan.

A ceremony to hand over the humanitarian assistance to the Afghan Taliban officials was held at Torkham. Pak-Afghan Cooperation Forum chairman Habibullah Khan along with other Pakistani officials handed over the loaded containers to Taliban leader Maulvi Mubariz Afghani.

Speaking on the occasion, Habibullah Khan said that the goodwill gesture from Pakistan was made at a time when the war-stricken and impoverished people of Afghanistan needed such assistance the most.

He said that the assistance was provided at a time when almost all the international aid agencies had suspended their activities in Afghanistan.

He said that low agricultural yields due to below average rains in Afghanistan during the current year was also one of the major factors Pakistan extended its helping hand to the people of Afghanistan.

The Afghan delegation present on the occasion thanked the government of Pakistan for its timely food assistance.

PROTEST: Scores of jobless daily wagers and labourers held a protest demonstration in Landi Kotal on Sunday against the four-month long ban on pedestrian movement at the Torkham border.

Addressing the protesters, Torkham Mazdoor Union chairman Abdus Salam Shinwari said that the ban rendered nearly 8,000 poor labourers jobless who had been facing serious financial problems.

He said that a number of his union members had taken to drugs due to the loss of their only source of earning.

The protesters demanded the government to immediately lift the ban on pedestrian movement and restore their Rahdari cards, enabling them to restart their work at the border crossing.

Meanwhile, relatives of martyred Khasadar and Levies personnel announced boycott of anti-polio vaccination campaign in protest against suspension of monthly stipend of their children, mostly school students.

Addressing a press conference in Jamrud Press Club on Sunday, they demanded provision of all perks and privileges on the pattern of Shuhada Package awarded to the family members of martyred police personnel.

They said the provincial and federal governments had failed to fulfil the promises made with them about provision of assistance under the Shuhada Package.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2021