KOHAT, Feb 7: The tribal elders belonging to Darra Adamkhel have announced to boycott the upcoming general elections in protest against the indifferent attitude of the candidates during the military operation in the area.

In a press release issued here on Thursday, the tribal elders said that despite their appeals the former parliamentarians and candidates contesting the 2008 elections did not play any role to stop the killing of civilians and destruction of their homes.

Tribal maliks Waris Khan, Saadullah Khan, Abdul Wadood, Gul Ghani and Shaer Khan belonging to three out of the six main tribes — Sheraki, Tor Chappar and Bosti Khel —warned against any government decision of merger of frontier region of Kohat into the district. They said that they would adopt all legal means to stop what they called the unconstitutional move.

They said that keeping closed the educational institutions and other government departments was another injustice being done to the tribesmen.

They asked the Education department to immediately open all the schools and colleges and also make arrangements for holding separate examinations for the students who could not appear in the supplementary examination for grade 10 due to the operation.

The elders demanded immediate compensation for the families of 13 civilians who were killed and six others who were injured during the operation. They said that the Kohat tunnel should be immediately opened for the tribesmen who were using the dangerous hilly track. Criticising the government for bombing the residential areas they claimed that not a single militant was killed or captured during the operation.