MANSEHRA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Thursday sent 17 activists of banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to jail on judicial remand allegedly for holding a procession without obtaining a no-objection certificate (NOC) from district administration.
“We booked more than 120 activists of banned TLP and arrested 18 of them on the spot for holding a rally without prior approval. We also impounded many pick-up vehicles and loudspeakers,” Faisal Khalil, the SHO of Lari Adda police station, told journalists.
The arrested people were initially produced before a local court and were later shifted to anti-terrorism court in Abbottabad under tight security. The ATC sent 17 of them to jail and granted bail to an underage accused.
“We are also conducting raids to arrest the remaining accused, who challenged the writ of the government by taking out the rally and delivering provocative and anti-state speeches,” said the SHO.
He said that district administration had already imposed a ban on all kinds of public gatherings without prior approval and an NOC. “We cannot allow banned organisations to take to streets, challenge the writ of the government, and indulge in provocative speeches,” he said.
Accident: Nine tourists, including women and a child, sustained injuries when a jeep fell into a ravine on the rugged road connecting Naran with Saiful Muluk Lake in Kaghan Valley on Thursday.
“We shifted all the injured tourists to a nearby health facility after retrieving them from the gorge,” an official of Rescue 1122 told journalists.
According to rescuers, the jeep was taking a tourist family from Chiniot, Punjab, to Saiful Muluk Lake. The driver lost control over the wheel when brakes of the vehicle failed. Resultantly, the jeep skidded off the road and plunged into the ravine.
Rescuers and locals rushed to the scene and shifted the injured to basic health unit in Naran and later to tehsil headquarters hospital in Balakot where their condition was stated to be out of danger.
According to Rescue 1122, the injured tourists were identified as Zafar Abbas, 40, Yusuf Umar, 23, Zakir Ali, 35, Hamza, 22, Ali Haider, 6, and four women.
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2026
