SHANGLA: The youth from different parts of Shangla blocked the Bisham-Swat Road at Alpuri chowk to protest against the rising coal mine accidents due to unsafe and illegal mines and alleged bogus uplift projects in Shangla.

The rally was called by the Shangla youth led by Shangla youth president, Muhammad Idrees Khan, and the chairman Shangla youth, Syed Inam and general secretary, Gul Nabi.

The rally participants raised slogans against the elected representatives, heads of line departments, coal mines owners, managers and contractors, as they held them responsible for the miners’ deaths.

While addressing the protesters, the speakers said that Shangla had received hundreds of coal miners’ bodies so far, and it was the negligence of the mines owners, contractors, and managers.

Fazal Mabood said that over 7,000 miners had died in coal mine incidents so far, and 8,000 had been crippled as a result of accidents. They urged the government to immediately close the illegal mines operating in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Idres Khan said hundreds of development schemes were approved in the previous tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government, but most of them were still awaiting initiation.

He said they wanted immediate pavement of the Shangla rough roads to avoid mishaps and improvement of cellular and internet service in the district.

On this occasion, the assistant commissioner Alpuri, Abdul Qayyum Khan, initiated negotiations with the protesters and formed a 13-member committee comprising youth. He assured that all their demands would be accepted within two weeks. The Shangla leadership announced the end of the protest, giving a two-week deadline, and warned that if their demands were not met within 15 days, they would block the Silk Road.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2025