MANSEHRA: People of Oghi tehsil and its suburbs on Wednesday demanded of authorities to set up sasta bazaars for the provision of essential commodities at reduced prices.

Former naib nazim Malik Nazeer told reporters that before the start of Ramazan, the tehsil administration and traders had announced the holding of sasta bazaars but the announcement awaited action even a fortnight after the month of fasting began.

He said the people were badly hit by the record food inflation.

Accompanied by a group of residents, Mr Nazeer said local administration used to establish sasta bazaars in Ramazan to provide essential commodities in the reduced province, but that didn’t happen in the current year despite record inflation.

Complain of record food inflation

He said traders had shown willingness to hold sasta bazaars to the relief of the people but the administration seemed uninterested in the idea.

Another former naib nazim Waqas Ahmad said sasta bazaars used to be held to provide the people with essential items, including ghee, wheat and gram flour, pulses, fruits and vegetables, at subsidised rates but the administration had denied that relief to the residents.

He said if authorities were serious about reducing the impact of record food inflation for people, then they should set up sasta bazaars without delay.

NOMINATION: Former provincial ministers Habibur Rehman Tanoli and Abrar Hussain Tanoli alias Iqbal on Wednesday announced that they won’t file nomination papers for election against each other and would rather support each other.

The announcement came after supporters of both former lawmakers from Mansehra district’s Tanawal area held a jirga.

Some former and current village council chairmen from the area were also in attendance.

Mr Abrar defeated Mr Habib in the 2013 election to the provincial assembly seat from Tanawal area (Mansehra).

The jirga decided that Mr Habib’s son Fahad Habib would contest election for the PK-35 seat and Mr Abrar for PK-36 with each other’s support.

It also declared that both ex-ministers would field a joint candidate or jointly support a contestant for the NA-15 seat, which covers Tanawal and Oghi areas as the neighbouring Torghar district.

Mr Habibur, who belongs to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, and Mr Abrar, who is part of the Qaumi Watan Party, reportedly didn’t consult their respective parties about that electoral arrangement.

When contacted, JUI-F provincial naib emir Hidayatullah Shah said he didn’t know about the Habib-Abrar agreement.

He said it was the privilege of the party’s top decision-making body, shura, to decide about election nominations.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2023