MANSEHRA: The Balakot tehsil council on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution seeking tax exemption for the region hit by the 2005 earthquake.

“Balakot and Garlat neighbourhood councils were destroyed by the Oct 2005 earthquake. Though reconstruction of houses and commercial buildings has yet to begin, the excise and tax department are serving notices on calamity survivors, which is unacceptable,” council chairman Ibrahim Shah told the house. The council met with acting presiding officer of the council Fahad Yalmaz in the chair.

The chairman complained about the denial of funds to local bodies by the government even two years after their formation.

“The government hasn’t released a single penny to tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils,” he said.

Chairman of the Balakot neighbourhood council Haider Ali Khan, who is also a member of the tehsil council, tabled a resolution seeking tax-free status for the Balakot Red Zone.

He said the families displaced by the 2005 earthquake continued to live in makeshift shelters as their houses had yet to be rebuilt.

“It is unfair on part of excise and tax department to issue notices to quake survivors to clear dues,” he said.

The councillors also complained about a lack of facilities in their respective areas.

KILLED: Two brothers were shot dead during a jirga in Chinarkot area here on Thursday.

The jirga was held to settle a land dispute between two groups.

SHO of the Battal police station Aurangzeb Khan told reporters that Mohammad Niaz and his brother Said Rehman opened fire at two brothers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Wahid of the rival group over hostile remarks seriously injuring them.

He added that the two died in the civil hospital. The deceased’s family torched the house of gunmen. The neighbours shifted house members to safety.

The police handed over bodies to the family after doctors completed medico-legal formalities.

The SHO said police had begun search for the gunmen after registering FIR.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2023