LANDI KOTAL: The traders community from the restive Bara sub-division has demanded special financial package prior to reopening of the Bara bazaar as promised by the political administration after de-notification of the tehsil by the law and order department of the Fata secretariat.

Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, president of Anjuman-i-Tajiran Bara Haji Maqbali Afridi said that the traders were incurring huge losses on daily basis since the closure of over 9,000 shops and warehouses in Bara bazaar in September 2009 when a military operation started in the area.

Flanked by senior vice-president Maan Singh, general secretary Said Ayaz, Haji Firdus and Bahadar Khan, Mr Afridi said that most of Bara traders had shifted their businesses to other parts of the country due to insecurity and ongoing military operation, thus rendering jobless nearly 40,000 people who were associated with different businesses in the region.  

He said that Fata secretariat and the Khyber Agency political administration had on a number of occasions promised to carry out survey to ascertain the financial loses of traders but to no avail.

The traders’ leader said that upon the advice of some officials of Fata secretariat, some 5,000 of Bara traders applied for compensation with Smeda, which was to carry out an assessment survey, but none of them received any response in this regard.

Published in Dawn January 25th , 2015

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