KARAK: Civil society and political activists organised a rally and staged sit-in outside the office of deputy commissioner here on Wednesday to protest against what they alleged the massive corruption by elected representatives of the district.

They set a 15-day deadline for the deputy commissioner to make public all details of the oil and gas royalty funds, which had been spent by the elected representatives so far.

The activists took out a rally from Takht-i-Nusrati and went to Karak city in a vehicular procession to register their protest.

The participants marched to the office of deputy commissioner Shoaib Jadoon and staged a sit-in outside his office. They also give a written application to Mr Jadoon to release the details of the funds within 15 days otherwise they would extend their protest to the provincial level.

Allege corruption in royalty funds, seek details of spending

Before dispersing, the speakers claimed that billion of rupees funds of oil and gas royalty had been given to the district, but no visible development could be seen.

They alleged massive corruption in the funds and asked the district administration to tell them where the funds had been spent. The speakers demanded payment of 50 per cent admission fee and other expenditures to the poor students of the district enrolled in different professional colleges of the country from the oil and gas royalty funds.

They decided to launch a campaign in different areas of the district to create awareness among people of the rampant corruption by their elected representatives.

The speakers demanded that the main campus of Khushal Khan Khattak University should be established in Karak tehsil and sub-campuses in Takht-i-Nusrati and Banda Daud Shah tehsils. They urged the deputy commissioner to release details of the spending of royalty funds within 15 days.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014