KHAAR, Jan 13: The Bajaur Agency chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami on Saturday organised a march to observe the first anniversary of the last year’s airstrike on Damadola village.

Protesters marched on roads and raised slogans against US President George W. Bush and the Pakistani government. They also burnt an effigy of the US president. The Inayat Kallay bazaar and markets in the area remained closed.

Addressing protesters, JI’s former MNA Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid said that the tribal people would not give in to airstrike and pressure.

He said that tribesmen would not accept sham and fraud by-polls in the agency, adding that participation in the polling amounted to betrayal with the blood of innocent tribesmen.

The ANP which claimed to champion the cause of Pukhtuns had betrayed the martyrs, he said, adding that the people had rejected the poll result.

Mr Rashid had resigned from the National Assembly to protest against the airstrike on a Madressah in the tribal agency on Oct 30, 2006. About 80 people had been killed in the strike.