DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Petroleum dealers have threatened to shut down fuel stations for an indefinite period if the local administration doesn’t ensure complete ban on the sale of smuggled oil products across the district.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, president petroleum dealers’ association Sadam Hussain Mehsud deplored that unsafe illegal business of petroleum products smuggled from Iran and neighbouring gulf states was on the rise in the district and adjacent merged tribal belt.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the association, he said they had no option but to go on a strike as the departments concerned failed to curb such illegal practice.

Mr Mehsud said for last few years, the association had been calling for action against those involved in smuggling petroleum products in the country, but to no avail.

He said due to this illegal practice, the sales of petroleum dealers had fallen significantly.

He said smuggling was not only inflicting losses to the national economy but was also posing threat to public life and property as the outlets selling such products had inadequate safety measures.

CONFERENCE: Eminent Muslim scholar, columnist and author Mufti Syed Adnan Kakakhel has said the main reason for the degradation of Muslims is distance from the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

He stated this while addressing the Al-Burhan Professionals Summit 2024, held here on Tuesday.

Mufti Adnan Kakakhel, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Al-Burhan Institute, said the secret of the development of Muslims lied in the direct use of the Islamic knowledge in their lives.

He emphasised that Muslims’ decline primarily stemmed from their detachment from the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

At the end of the conference, certificates were distributed to more than 100 professionals, who completed the one-year Ilm-i-Deen course at Al-Burhan Institute, Dera Ismail Khan campus.

Al-Burhan is an educational and training institute founded in October 2016 in Islamabad by Mufti Adnan Kakakhel. Currently, 17 campuses of the institute have been established in 14 cities.

MAN KILLED: A man was killed in a firing incident in Mohalla Haroon Abad in the limits of Kulachi police station, an official said on Tuesday.

He said the deceased was identified as Iqbal.

Meanwhile, the newly-appointed Dera district police officer Nasir Mehmood on Tuesday visited the Hathala police station to review security arrangements taken in view of the terror threats and recent militant attacks.

The DPO issued directions for further improving security at the police station.

DPO also visited the Hathala and Tariq Shaheed checkposts and asked the personnel to take precautionary measures for their own safety and that of the citizens.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2024