MANSEHRA: Hazara Deputy Inspector General of Police Nasir Mehmood Satti has suspended three station house officers and a muharrar for allegedly harbouring timber smugglers, and formed a committee led by the Mansehra district police officer to probe the matter.

“I have suspended four personnel in Mansehra on public complaints that they are allegedly in collusion with smugglers and involved in deforestation and timber smuggling,” he told reporters on Saturday.

The DIG suspended and ordered an inquiry against Asim Bukhari, the SHO of Shinkiari police station, Faisal Khalil, the SHO of Battal police station, Shujahat Qureshi, the SHO of Battle police station, and Mohammad Waseem, a muharrar at Shinkiari police station.

According to the police department, all of them were directed to report to the police lines following their suspension and the launch of the inquiry against them.

Hazara DIG forms body to probe matter

The DIG said that Hazara police were at the forefront of the government’s initiative to end deforestation and timber smuggling in the division, and that was why the four personnel had been suspended and an inquiry ordered.

HOSPITAL: Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Balakot, which was destroyed in the devastating 2005 earthquake, has been reconstructed after a delay of over two decades.

“The people of Balakot remained deprived of a quality healthcare facility since the hospital was reduced to ruins in the devastating earthquake some two decades ago, but now this 120-bed state-of-the-art building has been reconstructed at Rs920 million,” Munir Hussain Lughmani, the provincial lawmaker from the Balakot constituency, told the inaugural ceremony held on Saturday.

Mr Lughmani said that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi could not attend the inaugural ceremony due to his official engagement.

“As the tourism season in Kaghan Valley has started, we are inaugurating e the emergency, gynaecology and outpatient departments,” he said, adding, “The chief minister will reschedule his visit here and inaugurate the remaining departments.”

The MPA said that the government had approved Rs530 million for the reconstruction of the hospital in 2013. “The work on the health facility was suspended soon after its groundbreaking due to a shortage of funds, increasing its estimated cost to Rs920 million,” Mr Lughmani said.

He said that after becoming an MPA, he worked hard to revise the cost, and former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur and current Chief Minister Sohail Afridi played an important role in approving and sanctioning the revised funds.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2026