KOHAT, Oct 3: Leaders of different political parties and social organisations here on Sunday decided to launch a collective movement for their rights.

In this regard, a meeting was held at the residence of former district nazim Malik Asad, which was attended by local political leaders, lawyers and representatives of social organisations and business community. Through unanimous resolutions the participants demanded construction of a new bridge at Khushalgarh for movement of heavy traffic between southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rawalpindi, giving status of teaching hospital to Liaquat Memorial Hospital (LMH) as promised by previous governments and keeping Friendship Tunnel open till 10pm.

They said that the LMH, situated in the heart of the city, was accessible to all people living on Bannu, Hangu, Peshawar and Rawalpindi highways. By shifting the casualty and other wards from the LMH to the KDA divisional headquarter hospital patients had been facing problems, specially in emergency situation.

They criticised the routine closure of the Friendship Tunnel from evening till morning, saying that the closure had been creating problems for traders and office goers. “During winter day time is very short and thousands of passengers have to spend night in Kohat or Peshawar due to early closure of the tunnel,” they explained.

They also criticised the sealing of cantonment which had been declared off limits for civilians and urged the military authorities to facilitate movement of people.

The participants agreed to hold another session on next Sunday to formally announce names of the members of the movement.

Prominent among those who attended the meeting were former district nazim Gohar Saifullah Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami leader Haji Abid, Jamiat Ulema Islam's Pir Munaam Shah, former PPP MPA Iftikharuddin Khattak, local organiser of Tehrik-i-Insaaf Saadullah Khan Lala, former PML-N MNA Javed Ibraheem Paracha, Kohat Chamber of Commerce president Manzoor Ahmed Paracha, Tajir Action Committee president Haji Abid Paracha and representatives of several social and welfare organisations.