DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Dera Ismail Khan Circuit Bench of Peshawar High Court has sought replies from government and relevant authorities in a writ petition that has challenged the results of the recently-conducted census.

The petition has been filed by High Court Bar Association general secretary Advocate Waqar Alam on behalf of former MNA Dawar Khan Kundi, Jamaat-i-Islami leader Zahid Mohibullah and journalists Mohammad Irfan Mughal, Abul Muazzam Turabi and Mohammad Bilal.

After hearing the brief arguments of Waqar Alam, a division bench of PHC sought replies from federal, provincial and district governments and the central, provincial and regional representatives of Federal Bureau of Statistics.

Later, Waqar Alam told media that the residents of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan had protested against the results of the recently-held census and a multi-party conference was also held in that regard.

Case has been filed by civil society members of Dera and Tank

He said that the court was moved when they got no response from the relevant authorities. He said that 200,000 residents of the region were not counted in the census due to faulty maps.

The multi-party conference was organised by Dera Ismail Khan and Tank Civil Society Action Committee on May 7 in Mufti Mahmood Library Hall. The conference rejected the results of census through a unanimously adopted resolution.

The resolution demanded of the federal and provincial governments, Federal Bureau of Statistics and the district administration of Dera and Tank to address the concerns of residents of the region by re-conducting the census.

ABDUCTED: A teenager was abducted by four unidentified armed men when he was going to attend a marriage ceremony along with his family on Naiwela-Rangpur Janoobi Road near Rangpur Drain here on Wednesday.

An official said that Muzamil Jawad Baloch lodged a report at Prova police station that he along with his family was going in a passenger coach to attend a wedding ceremony when four armed men travelling in a car stopped their vehicle on Naiwala-Rangpur Janoobi Road near Rangpur Drain.

He said that the armed men first asked about pervez but he was not present in the passenger coach. He said that then they forcibly took away 19-year-old Atif Baloch, son of Humayun Baloch, with them and told the family to decide matters with a man named Hashim.

Police registered a case of abduction under Section 365/34 of Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified persons and started investigation.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023