MINGORA, Nov 27: Students of Government Postgraduate Jehanzeb College, Saidu Sharif, staged a protest demonstration on Wednesday against the shifting of offices of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education from Mingora to Chakdara in Lower Dir.

They termed the shifting a wrong decision taken by the provincial education authorities.  

The students staged a sit-in in front of the offices of the district Nazim and called for the withdrawal of the decision.

They said the board had been functioning at Saidu Sharif for the last 10 years, and the people from all the districts of the former Malakand division were equally benefiting from it.

The students demanded of the government to reverse its decision and remove the prevailing unrest among the people of Swat. They proposed that a separate board should be established at Dir, so that the area people could also get the facility at their doorsteps.

The general secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao), Swat, Fazal Rehman, has also condemned the district government for its failure to convince the provincial government on the issue of the board and asked the MPAs-elect to play their role in this regard. He said it was a challenge for the people’s representatives of the district.

Dr Anwarul Haq, a leader of the Swat Jamaat Islami, has also criticized the decision and termed it a wrong step on part of the provincial government. He alleged that the governor wanted to create problems for the new government of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), states a press release issued here on Wednesday.

Akhtar Ali Khan, chief of the Jamaat in Mingora, has also flayed the government for shifting the board to Dir and asked for its immediate restoration.

The JI leader stated on Wednesday that such an attempt had been made also a few months ago, but was reversed only after the people had taken to the streets. He said the people of Swat should not be challenged in this connection. Rasheed Ali, a leader of the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, Swat, has also demanded of the government to reverse the decision.

Dr Khalid Mehmood Khalid, president of the Anjuman Gujran Malakand division, also issued a press statement here on Wednesday against the shifting of the board and asked the government to establish another board in Chakdara Dir for the people of the district. He said the people of Dir and Swat had very good relations, and the government should not try to make them quarrel.

Khan Sardar, Nazim of the Malookabad Union Council, has termed the shifting of board a wrong decision, and said the people of the Swat district would oppose it till last. He asked the district Nazim, Dr Mehboob-ur-Rehman, to play his role in this regard.