LAKKI MARWAT: Elders from Bannu area have announced they will call a meeting of the Qaumi Jirga on April 6 to discuss the law and order situation and implementation of the 16-point charter of demand approved by the provincial apex committee.

During a news conference at the Bannu Press Club on Thursday, Jamaat-i-Islami leader and former Senator Mohammad Ibrahim said that elders decided to convene the jirga at the party’s office in the wake of the March 24 killing of a schoolchild.

He said keeping in view the poor law and order situation, residents led by elders had launched a peaceful movement last year which resulted in the approval of 16-point demands by the apex committee.

“On July 19 last year, a large peace gathering paved the way for the government’s willingness to take concrete steps for maintenance of peace and elimination of armed groups,” he claimed.

Bannu District Bar Association president Shah Qiyaz Bacha and general secretary Shoaib Sadozai, lawyers Malik Naimat Ali Khan, Malik Haroon and Malik Shaukat Ayaz Khan, elders Mameezullah Sikandri, Jihadyar, Idrees Khan, Shamsul Qamar Quraishi and others accompanied him.

The JI leader complained that all demands approved by the apex committee and announced by the chief minister in a public meeting in Bannu had yet not been fulfilled.

He condemned the suicide blasts in Bannu cantonment and declared the closure of roads after the terrorist attacks injustice to the people.

“The incident of killing of a student would not have happened had the roads not been closed on the pretext of security concerns,” he said.

The JI leader said that such actions had caused a trust deficit between security forces and people and that there was the need to bridge the gap between the government institutions and the general public through negotiations.

He said the opening of roads would speed up commercial activities, enabling people to live a peaceful and prosperous life.

Meanwhile, an iftar-dinner was arranged for the prisoners at central jail in Bannu on Thursday.

Additional deputy commissioner Aminullah Khan, jail superintendent Syed Mohammad Junaid, Domel tehsil council chairman Malik Israr Khan, Press Club president Pir Niaz Ali Shah and general secretary Waseem Khan were also in attendance.

The jail superintendent said that the event was arranged on the instructions of the provincial minister for prison and IG (prisons).

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025