MINGORA, April 2 The Frontier Corps completed withdrawal from Barikot area on Thursday and moved to its base in Chakdara, official sources told Dawn.

Sources said that the paramilitary forces had vacated their positions in the area and abandoned checkposts. However, police and Frontier Constabulary were jointly manning some checkposts, they added.

Meanwhile, Tahreek Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad has urged the government to appoint qazis in all districts of the volatile Malakand region so that problems being faced by the people could be resolved.

He was talking to a delegation of Upper and Lower Dir districts here at 'peace camp' on Thursday. Commissioner Malakand Muhammad Javed was also present in the meeting.

Sufi Muhammad said that the situation would improve in the area only by bringing criminals to justice. He said that government had committed to appoint qazis in the region, but that commitment had not been fulfilled.

The jirga members discussed the prevailing lawlessness in Upper and Lower Dir districts and urged Sufi Muhammad to play his role. Sufi asked elders of the area to remain peaceful and said that negotiations with the government were in progress.

STUDENTS' PROTEST Students of government schools staged a protest demonstration on Thursday against exemption of examination fees and blocked Mingora-Saidu Sharif Road for traffic.

They said that Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti had announced that local students would be exempted from examination and tuition fees, but the administrations of Malakand University and other colleges were still demanding fees.

They added that the chief minister had also directed the concerned authorities to return tuition and admission fees to the students in Swat, but both the decisions had been ignored.

Commissioner Muhammad Javed reached the spot and assured the protesting students that he would discuss their demands with the concerned officials.