LOWER DIR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved Rs5 million for the Kalpani Talash bypass road, and construction is expected to resume shortly, according to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPA Malik Shafiullah Khan.

He was talking to local journalists after inaugurating a private health facility at Talash as chief guest on Sunday. Mr Khan clarified that construction work on Talash bypass road was delayed due to a court case between two land owners.

The lawmaker claimed that classes at the Timergara Medical College would be started from the next academic session following the appointment of a principal. He said the Talash category D hospital would be upgraded to category C hospital for which the documentation process had been completed.

JI PROTEST RALLY: The local chapter of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) staged a protest rally at Timergara against the killing of Mohammad Hameed Sufi, the JI Bajaur general secretary who was gunned down a few days ago.

Dozens of the JI workers, while carrying banners and placards, chanted slogans against the government and the Bajaur administration for their failure to curb target killings. The rally was addressed by the JI district chief Maulana Asadullah, general secretary Hafiz Yaqubur Rehman and others.

The speakers threatened to block the Swat motorway if the killers of Sufi Hameed were not arrested soon. They condemned the killing and demanded immediate arrest of the perpetrators.

The JI leaders alleged that both the federal and provincial governments had failed to protect the lives and properties of the masses and end target killings.

Meanwhile, a welfare organisation opened a free blood bank and medical laboratory at Timergara during a function which was addressed by the organisation’s chairman Zaheer Abbas, PPP district president Nawabzada Ahmad Zeb and others.

The speakers said that most of the patients needed blood in emergencies. They said the organisation would provide free of cost blood to the needy people.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024