LOWER DIR: Torrential rain accompanied with hailstorm and ensuing flash flood in parts of Lower Dir damaged standing crops and the main Timergara-Peshawar road on Friday night.

Residents said the rain coupled with hailstorm damaged the standing crops of maize, tomatoes, etc in Talash Noorakhel while traffic remained blocked for about five hours due to flooding in Talash stream.

The administration diverted the traffic to Talash bypass road, but it got jammed on this route too due to haste and violations by the drivers.

The residents said that about 14 villages of Talash valley had been hit by the heavy hailstorm in the night that damaged the farms of tomatoes, cucumbers and vegetable.

Local farmers have demanded the agriculture department and district administration to conduct damage assessment and provide financial assistance to them.

Meanwhile, PML-N provincial vice-president Malik Behram Khan demanded of the government to properly assess the damage caused by floods so far in Upper Dir and compensate the affected families on priority.

Talking to mediapersons in Timergara, he said both the federal and provincial governments had so far ignored the flood victims of Kumrat, Thal, Kohistan and Sheringal.

He demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to visit the affected areas in Dir.

Mr Behram said the affected families had been waiting for assistance and rehabilitation. He said that the recent floods had damaged the road leading to Kumrat and other infrastructure in upper parts of Dir while both the federal and provincial governments had failed to compensate and rehabilitate the victims.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT: The court of additional district and sessions judge, Timergara, Nusrat Naz here the other day sentenced a man in a robbery cum murder case that occurred in Lower Dir on May 14, 2020.

Haidar Ali, a resident of Munja Totano Banda, Kabal, Swat, was handed down life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs200,000 for looting a jeep and killing a man Ayaz Ahmad, a resident of Swat, at Toormang Kandao in Lower Dir. The deceased was the only brother of three sisters.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2022