KOHAT: A young scavenger was killed and his elder brother injured when an explosive device wrapped in a gunny bag they had collected from a mountain went off in Alikhel area of Ghiljo in Orakzai district on Sunday, the police said.

A police official said 14-year-old Jalil died on the spot while his brother, Shah Nawaz, 24, was seriously injured in the blast. The injured was shifted to the KDA Teaching Hospital, Kohat.

The official said the area was yet to be cleared of unexploded rockets and improvised explosive devices found in the forests of the district. He said the region was once infested with militants of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and also wracked by sectarian strife.

The tribesmen have been demanding of the authorities to clear the area of the unexploded ordnance.

Meanwhile, the police arrested a young man on Sunday for launching a sinister campaign against the state institutions by posting incendiary material on social media.

A team of Mohammad Riaz Shaheed police station raided a house in Hayat Shaheed Colony on Bannu Road and held Hamid Habeeb.

He was presented before a special magistrate, who sent him to prison on 14-day judicial remand.

SHO Islamuddin said the man had been booked under Section 153-A for using social media for malicious purposes and 505 for insulting the state organs. He said the accused was taken into custody after an application was filed by a citizen.

PROJECTS LAUNCHED: The work on projects of the Kotal treatment plant, 75-kilometre sewerage lines, and new tubewells has started in Kohat, an official said.

He said these projects were inaugurated by former chief minister Mahmood Khan in December 2022.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, Tahir Afeef, deputy general manager of Water Supply and Sanitation Company (WSSC), Kohat, said old and obsolete water pipelines would be replaced.

He said eight new bore wells would also be drilled, adding 10 new tubewells would be dipped to ensure ‘uninterrupted’ water supply to consumers.

Mr Afeef said the schemes would be completed with a cost of Rs4.65 billion, benefitting 224,000 households.

Meanwhile, work on clearing the blocked sewerage lines in the bazaars has also started under the supervision of Kohat division commissioner Mohammad Ali Shah.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2023