MANSEHRA: The police arrested four people, including a former minister’s brother, for firing at their personnel here early on Saturday.

“We arrested a group of men with unlicensed arms and ammunition as they gathered in a house in Ghazikot Ghani area to celebrate the New Year and caused trouble,” district police officer Sajjad Khan told reporters.

He said the arrested men, who were accompanied by two women, fired bullets at the police party but the personnel remained unhurt.

Mr Sajjad said the arrested men included Faridoon Dona, a younger brother of former minister Ibrar Hussain Tanoli, Zeeshan of Gujran area, Mohammad Sarfraz of Khyber tribal district, Azaz Aziz of Peshawar, who were booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and were being interrogated.

Meanwhile, the police arrested proclaimed offender Mohammad Fiaz here on Saturday for killing a woman and her grandson, and seized a repeater gun.

LG POLLS: Parliamentary leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Mohammad Yusuf has claimed that his party will sweep local body elections in Hazara division.

Mr Yusuf told a public meeting in Haryala area here on Saturday that the PTI, which had come to power through the people’s stolen electoral mandate, played havoc with the economy causing high inflation and unemployment rates.

“The PTI, which utilised the entire Hazara division’s funds merely in Haripur district, faced landslide defeat in the recent local body polls as the people took revenge for escalating prices of essential goods and leaving thousands of people jobless,” he said.

The PML-N leader said his party had ye not decided to make seat adjustments with other opposition parties for the next phase of LG polls.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022