Land lease protested

TIMERGARA, Aug 4: Elders of three tribes of Timergara on Saturday held a protest demonstration against the district administration and works and services department for leasing out a piece of land they had donated in 1977 for constructing a link road. The land is situated on Balambat road near the Timergara press club.

The protesters while carrying placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands also marched on the road from Timergara general bus stand. After passing through the main bazaar the protesters converged at the press club, blocking the main Shaheed Chowk for some time.

Addressing the protesters and later a press conference the elders alleged the DCO, district officer revenue, tehsildar Timergara and works and services department had leased out the land for construction of shopping plazas.

The elders warned to move the court if the land was not returned to the owners.—Correspondent

Two bodies recovered

PESHAWAR, Aug 4: Bodies of two young men, packed separately in sacks, were recovered from agriculture fields in limits of Chamkani police station here on Saturday.

An official of the police station said that both the men seemed to have been killed two days ago somewhere else and the bodies were dumped near Jhagra village.

He said that one of them was identified as Mohammad Riaz Afridi, son of Akbar Khan of Ghari Chandan, and the other is Mohammad Usman, son of Said Mohammad of Darra Adamkhel.

The bodies were shifted to local mortuary for postmortem.

Police said that there was no visible sign on the bodies but it seemed they had been strangulated. “We are waiting for their relatives to know the actual story,” the police official said.—Bureau Report

Man seeks justice

KOHAT, Aug 4: The driver of the commissioner Kohat division, who was brutally battered by a gunman of a police official in the main bazaar, has demanded severe punishment to the influential accused.

The driver, Rashid Ashraf, in a statement on Saturday, said while he was going to buy vegetable from bazaar in the official car, a civilian, who was walking right in the middle of the road, kicked the door of the car and started abusing him when he used horn to get way.

Mr Ashraf said, later the man along with half a dozen policemen beat him with buts of Kalashnikovs, adding he went to hospital but doctors refused to treat him after knowing he was beaten up by policemen.

He said the man, identified as Danish, was the gunman of DSP Khurshid Khan. Mr Ashraf said he sought justice from the police officers but his complaint was not taken seriously.—Correspondent

PML-Q to attend proposed APC

PESHAWAR, Aug 4: PML-Q, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has said the entire country is facing energy crisis and it is duty of all the political parties to discuss the issues and devise a policy to overcome the problem.

This was stated at a meeting here on Saturday. People’s Lawyers Forum (Sherpao) secretary information Saleem Shah Hoti also quit his party and joined PML-Q on the occasion.

The PML-Q’s provincial general secretary Mohammad Intikhab Chamkani, former senator Sahid Abbas Shah and provincial joint secretary Zakaullah were also present.

The PML-Q leaders said the ANP’s proposal to hold all parties conferences on Aug 9 was a reasonable step to discuss the issues of national interest and decide how to overcome the problems.

They alleged opposition parties had nothing to do with problems of the poor and asked them to avoid opposition for the sake of opposition, and work for development of the country and improvement of the national economy.—Bureau Report

Decomposed body found

NOWSHERA, Aug 4: Decomposed body of a young man was recovered from the hills in the Ziarat Kaka Sahib area of Nowshera on Saturday, police said.

DSP Nowshera circle Riaz Khan said that the body could not be identified but the police found a chit written in Urdu which described the body as that of Taliban leader Qari Hamad.

Official sources said Qari Hamad had become district amir of banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Nowshera, after the killing of Qari Kamran. He was involved in different cases of terrorism, including a bomb blast in Risalpur in August 2011, in which more than 18 security personnel had been killed.—Correspondent

Ensuring self-accountability

PESHAWAR, Aug 4: Federal Minister for Communications Arbab Alamgir Khan has said as a nation we could resolve all our problems if we mend our ways and ensure self-accountability. He was talking to public meetings in his constituency after inspecting ongoing projects.

Mr Alamgir said, no doubt it was the responsibility of the government to provide every possible relief to masses in all sectors of life, but putting the entire burden on the government will not ease the situation as problems were countless and ‘our resources were limited’.

He said using electricity with care and identifying and penalising power pilfers could help mitigate the energy crisis. Likewise, he said ‘we must have to fight against self-created price-hike, profiteering and hoarding.

The federal minister maintained that democracy was much better than dictatorship and that was why PPP always struggled for strengthening democratic norms and institutions in the country. The PPP and masses, he said had unbreakable relation that would remain intact forever.—APP