KHAR, June 21: Authorities in the Bajaur tribal region barred the Jamiat Tulba-i-Islam from organizing a student convention here on Monday.

The administration detained scores of students, including the JTI's general-secretary, and expelled them from the region on charges of defying a ban on political activities in the tribal area.

It was learnt that a large number of Khassadars had cordoned off the venue where the students were to holding convention.

Officials said that the ban was imposed by the NWFP governor on all political activities in Fata, adding that they received strict orders about not allowing the organisation to hold the convention.

A spokesman for the NWFP Governor's Fata Secretariat had warned tribesmen last week against taking part in political activities, warning them that violators would be dealt under the 1901 Frontier Crimes Regulation as the federal government had not yet extended the Political Parties Act to the tribal territory.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-i-Islami's Fata chapter, in a press release issued on Monday, criticized the Governor's Fata Secretariat for banning political activities in the tribal area. It said that the government was depriving the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas of their basic rights.