SHANGLA: Deputy commissioner Ziaur Rehman has voiced concern about the growing coalmine incidents in the country and said most coalmine workers killed in those incidents belonged to Shangla district.

He was addressing a seminar organised by the district administration in the Alpuri area here the other day in collaboration with the Kashmir Orphans Relief Trust.

The event was attended by government officials and over 100 children who lost their fathers to coalmine incidents, along with their guardians.

The DC said the event was held to highlight the plight of the children of the victims of coalmine incidents from the district.

He said the administration had introduced a welfare programme for those orphans here.

The DC said those orphans should enrol themselves in a model school managed by the Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust in Swabi.

Noman Malik, manager of the provincial campus of the Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust, said the trust had established a model school to provide free education to orphans and make their and their families’ futures secure.

He announced the enrollment of 300 children on the Swabi campus of the school for free education up to the master’s level.

District education officer Muzaffar Ali Khan, PTI Malakand division vice-president Mohammad Shahid, SDEO Aurangzeb and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Salman Khan also addressed the event and shed light on the plight of the children of the local coalminers and the importance of formal education.

Meanwhile, a court in Shangla district convicted a resident of murder and handed him life imprisonment and Rs1 million fine. Yousaf Khan was sentenced by the district and sessions judge, according to senior lawyer Shah Irani.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2024