BAJAUR: Senior politician and noted campaigner for constitutional rights in erstwhile Fata, Burhanuddin Khan, died of heart attack at 71, his family members said on Tuesday.

They said the veteran politician, who also remained president of Awami National Party’s Bajaur chapter, had been suffering from chest-related complication for last few months.

He breathed his last at the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, where he was shifted to after he suffered heart attack.

Mr Burhanuddin, who was a close relative of former ruler of Bajaur, Khan Abdul Subhan Khan, remained an active advocate of extending the country’s Constitution to the former Fata and repealing the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation, his colleagues said, adding he also spent some days in prison for mobilising people against the FCR.

He also contested the National Assembly election in 1985 as an independent candidate because Political Parties Act was not extended to the region till then.

However, he could not win the election as only the pro-FCR elders were allowed to cast their vote.

Mr Burhanuddin, who was the elder brother of Jamaat-i-Islami’s local MPA Sirajuddin Khan and close relative of provincial minister Anwarzeb Khan, was laid to rest in his native Naway Kallay area after funeral prayers attended by people from different walks of life.

DC VISITS SASTA BAZAAR: Deputy commissioner Iftikhar Alam on Tuesday ordered availability of all essential items at the Ramazan sasta bazaars in the Bajaur district.

He issued the directives while speaking to officials of district administration, agriculture and livestock departments, TMA and leaders of business community during a surprise visit to the sasta bazaar in Khar.

He visited the bazaar on public complaints about shortage of essential items such as wheat flour and ghee.

He asked the officials, traders’ leaders and the owner of sasta bazaar to ensure adequate quantity of daily use commodities round the clock to facilitate the consumers in the fasting month.

Mr Alam directed the officials to visit the sasta bazaars daily to check availability of commodities there.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2022