KHYBER: Scores of Tirah valley residents held a protest demonstration at the Bagh-Maidan Markaz here on Saturday against the police for arresting two drug dealers and seizing the contraband from them.

Local sources told Dawn that the police arrested two persons, belonging to Malakdinkhel and Qambarkhel tribes on Thursday night when they were shifting charas to the Bagh-Maidan Markaz for the weekly sale and purchase of the banned commodity on Friday. They said the police registered an FIR against them and lodged them in the local lock-up.

However, the protesters insisted poppy cultivation and trading in charas was their main source of earning, and that they had also received assurances from the local authorities that their ‘business’ won’t be harmed till an alternative was provided to them.

Tirah is traditionally known for poppy cultivation, and local farmers have been trading in charas and hashish every Friday at the Bagh-Maidan Markaz, the main trading centre in the valley, since times immemorial.

Local residents argued that though there was a strict ban on sale and purchase of charas, hashish and other drugs, they were still dealing in these commodities as they had little or no other sources of income.

They said growers were even ready to cultivate poppy if the government agreed the yields would be provided to pharmaceutical companies. They further argued that the soil, environment and weather conditions of Tirah valley were conducive for poppy cultivation and thus the best quality of poppy was cultivated there.

The protesters threatened to continue agitating until the arrested tribesmen were released and the confiscated charas was returned to them.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2023