KOHAT: Tribesmen blocked the Indus Highway at Zor Kalay area of Darra Adamkhel on Monday against the closure of coal mines by the political administration.

Tribesmen from Zarghunkhel-Parwan, Zor Kalay-1, Zor Kalay-11 and Talamkhel came on the road, chanting slogans against the administration.

“The mines are our property and the government cannot close them by force,” a protester, Nasir Afridi, told Dawn on telephone from Darra Adamkhel.

He said that the mines were closed after a letter was written to the governor house that six mines were disputed and thus their excavation should be stopped.

The protesting tribesmen opened the Indus Highway after an hour after holding negotiations with the administration officials who assured them that a jirga would be constituted to resolve the issue.

An official of the Frontier Region, Kohat, told Dawn that the mines in Zarghunkhel area had been closed because they were operating without getting a lease letter from the mineral department.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014