SWABI: Tobacco growers here on Saturday demanded the establishment of the Pakhtunkhwa Tobacco Board after the abolition of the Pakistan Tobacco Board.

The demand was made during a convention of tobacco growers at the Bachai Sikandri village through a resolution.

The event, hosted by the Ittehad Kashthkaran Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was chaired by Ittehad president Arif Ali Khan and attended by farmers from within the district and adjoining periphery in large numbers.

The speakers wondered how, in the absence of the Pakistan Tobacco Board, it would be possible to manage tobacco-related affairs. He said all multinational and national tobacco purchasing companies worked under a law.

Through another resolution, they said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government should withdraw the Agricultural Income Tax Bill, 2025, immediately, as the poor farmers who had already been hit by climate change were not in position to pay it.

Urge govt to withdraw Agricultural Income Tax Bill

The speakers demanded that instead of causing further financial burden on the growers, authorities should help them financially and offer assistance to them to adopt modern farming techniques.

They said that there was a complete unity among farmers who had decided that they would not pay the “unjust imposed agriculture tax” at any price so the best option for the government was to withdraw it.

The speakers said the Punjab government fully assisted and encouraged farmers to concentrate on farming, while on the contrary, farmers in KP were “victimised.”

Through another resolution, the participants said the proposed Mines and Minerals Act which had already been endorsed by the KP cabinet should not become a law because we should have rights over our natural resources and it is the basic principle of the provincial autonomy which is guaranteed by the 1973 constitution.

Ittehad central chairman Arif Ali Khan said that all available forums would be used to protect the interests of tobacco farmers in the province and no one would be allowed to usurp those rights.

ARMS SEIZED: The police arrested a driver here on Saturday after foiling his attempt to smuggle a large quantity of weapons in his vehicle.

They also seized nine Kalashnikov, 29 pistols, 17 modern automatic guns and rifles and 125 magazines from the secret compartments of the vehicle.

The action came on a tip-off, according to DSP of Chota Lahor tehsil Iqbal Khan.

Accompanied by SHO of the Tordher police station Saifullah Khan, Mr Iqbal told reporters that the police put up a blockade on the Swabi-Jehangira Road and stopped a vehicle for checking.

The personnel found57 modern weapons and their parts worth millions of rupees and arrested driver Mohammad Hilal, a resident of Dara Adamkhel.

The DSP said the seized goods included13,788 cartridges, parts of Kalashnikov, weapon butts, springs, cleaning and firing pins, and magazines.

The Tordher police later registered a case against the driver and started an investigation.

Meanwhile, DSP of Razaar tehsil Fazal Sher Khan was injured in a road accident on Saturday.

Rescue 1122 officials said the DSP was on the way to Shewa Adda in tehsil headquarters when the car he drove fell into a ditch on the Tarakai Road, injuring him seriously. A rescue team provided first aid to the injured and shifted him to the Bacha Khan Teaching Hospital.

A police official denied claims the policeman got injured in a gun attack.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025