BAJAUR: Families of the Levies personnel who died in the line of duty staged a protest sit-in the other day against the government for not awarding the promised Shuhada package to them.

The sit-in was held outside the DPO office in the Civil Colony Khar.

Senior police officials and political activists also joined the protesters, who were holding banners inscribed with photos of the martyred personnel and their demands.

The protesters pointed out that 200 personnel of former Bajaur Levies force had died in the war against terrorism since 2007.

However, they claimed families of a number of fallen soldiers had not been provided with the compensation package.

They said the federal and provincial governments had announced provision of the package by end of 2018, but to no avail. They added Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Sanaullah Abbasi during a visit to the district in February 2020 had also announced to provide Shuhada package to the bereaved families, but to no effect.

They maintained the police department had announced that a member of the family of each martyred person would be recruited in the force, but this commitment was also not honoured despite the Peshawar High Court’s ruling to this effect.

The protesters ended their sit-in after about three hours.

Separately, seven people, including four women, were wounded when a passenger coach overturned on the Nawagai-Peshawar Road near the Civil Colony, Nawagai, while taking a turn on Tuesday.

The coach was coming from Rawalpindi to Khar.

Rescue 1122 officials told Dawn that the vehicle hit a roadside tree before being overturned apparently due to brake failure. They shifted the wounded people to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Nawagai.

ACTION SOUGHT AGAINST LAWMAKERS: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Bajaur district president Dr Khalilur Rahman and other activists have asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to take action against the party lawmakers who voted for the opposition candidate in the Senate election.

Addressing a press conference the other day, he warned that scores of workers would leave the party if the premier did not act against the MNAs.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2021