LOWER DIR: Retired forces’ personnel on Wednesday demanded of the government to shift the district armed services board from Malakand Top to Chakdara without delay.

Talking to journalists here, representatives of the retired personnel from the three services, including Said Gul, Badshah Zada, Jehan Bakht, Noor Faqir and others, complained after the construction of the Swat Motorway the pensioners and their relatives found it difficult to reach the Malakand Top as the main GT Road was no longer used by the public transporters.

They said about 15,000 retired personnel belonging to different districts of Malakand division like Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Chitral and Bajaur had to verify their pension documents from the services board.

They pointed out that the government had started constructing a public park in Chakdara, and demanded that the district administration specify at least one acre of land in the park for constructing the building of the district armed services’ board.

They said Chakdara was the centre of Malakand division and lied at a suitable distance from various districts so the government should shift the services board here.

PRESS CLUB ELECTION: The Timergara Press Club, during the elections for the year 2023 held on Wednesday, elected Ismail Anjum as president, Nawab Badshah vice-president, Rehmatullah Swati general secretary, Tahir Shah joint secretary, Habib Mohammad Khattak information secretary, Malik Akbar Saeed finance secretary and Bahramand Syed office secretary. Rohullah Shakir was elected chairman of the press club’s executive committee.

SHOPS GUTTED: A fire gutted a few shops in the Timergara city. The fire broke out in one of the shops due to unknown reasons on Wednesday evening, and engulfed the adjoining shops.

Rescue 1122 firefighters along with local volunteers rushed to the site and started efforts to put out the blaze.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022