BAJAUR: Residents of various areas of Khar tehsil here on Friday staged a protest demonstration against increasing robbery incidents in their localities.

Local people, including traders and farmers, participated in the demonstration and blocked the main Khar-Munda road to traffic in Yousafabad area.

The protesters said that their areas, including Yousafabad, college town and Farash, were among the congested parts of the district located along the main road.

They said several robberies had been reported in these areas during the ongoing winter wherein the residents were deprived of valuable items.

They alleged that members of an organised gang entered houses at night and committed robberies. They added that the residents had also rounded up several robbers red-handed.

However, they claimed the police released them on the intervention of influential people without taking any legal action.

The people ended their protest after a delegation of elders and political leaders gave them the assurance that no one would approach the police for the release of any person arrested in a robbery case.

After the talks, the protesters agreed to hand over a group of alleged robbers to the police who were caught by them the previous night.

RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR DIES: Prominent religious scholar and founder member of Jamaat-i-Islami, Bajaur chapter, Maulana Abdur Raziq died at the age of 70 after brief illness at his home in Kambilai area of Salarzai tehsil, his family and JI sources said here on Friday. People of the district and its periphery areas would visit Maulana Raziq for seeking his opinion on various religious issues.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2022