SWABI: The police arrested four workers of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) during a raid on a house here on Friday.

Liaqat Yousafzai, a member of PTM’s core committee, said that his residence in Mathra village of Razaar tehsil was raided by police in his absence, and four party workers, including his 18-year-old son, Haiwad Ali, were picked.

Talking to Dawn from an undisclosed location, Mr Yousafzai said that raid on houses of PTM workers continued unabated.

To a question, he said he didn’t know the reason why his house was raided, but added that it might in an attempt to thwart PTM’s planned public gathering on October 11 in Khyber district, which was announced by the movement’s head Manzoor Pashteen during his visit here on Sept 5. He also addressed a gathering in Razaar.

Leader claims action aimed at thwarting party’s Khyber gathering

The other three arrested workers included Mehran Khan of Chota Lahor, Usman Khan of Swabi Khas City and Farhad Ali of the district headquarters, Mr Yousafzai said, adding that the crackdown on the PTM workers continued unabated.

When contacted, police officials were tight-lipped about the arrest of PTM workers.

TMA EMPLOYEES’ SALARY: Provincial chairman of Local Government Employees Federation (LGEF) Shaukat Ali Anjum claimed on Tuesday that the government had promised to release a grant of Rs250 million in a couple of days for payment of salaries and pensions of the employees of tehsil municipal administrations.

Addressing a news conference at the Swabi Press Club, he said this assurance was given to them by minister of local government and rural development Arshad Ayub Khan during a meeting with a delegation of LGEF at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Monday.

He said the grant was for the financially feeble TMAs, whose workers had not received salary and pension from two to four months.

Flanked by the federation’s district leaders, Mr Anjum said they also brought into the notice of the minister the issues related to service structure, issuance of special grants for employees and pensioners of TMAs and establishment of a building control authority.

He claimed that establishment of horticulture department was a priority of the government to maintain and improve the parks.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024