BAJAUR: Residents of four areas of Salarzai tehsil here on Monday staged a demonstration against the closure of local roads for the last six days for “security reasons” and demanded their immediate reopening to the relief.

The demonstration was staged on the main Bajaur-Munda Road in Haji Lawang area, with people from Chinar, Dara, Manoo and Ghondai areas showing up in large numbers. The participants blocked the artery by burning tyres, flayingthe closure of roads.

They turned the demonstration into a sit-in after the joining of several political, social and business leaders.

Bajaur Peace Jirga chief Sahibzada Haroon Rashid, local PTI MPA Anwar Zeb Khan, PPP district president Haji Sher Bahadur, Jamaat-i-Islami deputy emir Haji Sardar Khan, ANP deputy general secretary Sayed Sadiq Akbar, JUI-F district chief Maulana Abdur Rasheed and elders Mian Habib Gul addressed the demonstration.

They expressed concern over the closure of roads and declared the move “totally unacceptable and a great injustice to residents”.

The speakers said that thousands of residents, especially students and patients, were troubled by road closures.

They demanded the immediate reopening of arteries to ease the residents’ difficulties.

The speakers also urged authorities not to close any roads in the future.

The protest ended peacefully after around four hours as deputy commissioner Shahid Ali Khan promised the roads’ reopening today (Tuesday), as a delegation of demonstrators led by MPA Anwar Zeb Khan met him in his office.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026