KHYBER: Khyber Siyasi Ittehad (KSI) has announced to hold a peace march on Sept 4 against the deteriorating law and order situation in different parts of the tribal district.
Addressing a news conference at Landi Kotal Press Club on Wednesday, KSI leaders Shah Faisal Afridi, Shereen Afridi, Fazlur Rehman, Malak Zakir and Zahir Shah expressed their concerns over rising incidents of targeted killing, extortion and attacks on security checkposts in recent past.
They said that the presence of suspected militants in parts of Tirah valley caused unrest among locals while law enforcement agencies were constantly denying the presence of such elements in the region.
They said that in order to prevent the resurgence of outlawed groups in Khyber and to remind the government institutions, KSI decided to hold a peaceful but a powerful march on Sept 4.
They said that no party flag would be displayed at the peace march and the participants would carry only white flag to convey the message of peace and protection of common people.
TRAFFIC JAM: Sudden arrival of hundreds of coal-loaded trucks from Afghanistan during the last couple of days has caused severe traffic congestion at Torkham border.
Transporters said that unnecessary checking of loaded and empty trucks by National Logistic Cell staff also delayed movement of vehicles on both sides of the border.
Israrullah, a representative of local transporters, told Dawn that slow movement of loaded and empty trucks delayed custom clearance of Afghanistan-bound trucks, which also caused huge financial losses to most of the transporters and traders.
Amanat Khan, a custom official at Torkham, when approached for comments, said that nearly 700 trucks loaded with coal arrived suddenly at Torkham. The coal would be supplied to a power plant in Pakistan while some empty vehicles were already present on both sides of the border, he added.
He said that the custom staff worked overtime to clear nearly 1,200 vehicles by Monday evening while the rest of the stranded vehicles too would be cleared in due course of time.
He, however, said that the construction of the much delayed Customs terminal too was causing traffic congestion at the border.
Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022
