BATTAGRAM: Residents blocked the Karakoram Highway in Thakot area here on Saturday to protest suspension of a notification declaring Allai as a district.

On the call of former PTI MPA Zubair Khan and MNA Nawaz Khan, people of Allai gathered on KKH, blocking it for vehicular traffic. The protesters said making Allai tehsil a district had been a longstanding demand of the people, and former chief minister Mahmood Khan had promised doing so.

However, they alleged the caretaker government had suspended the notification at the behest of JUI-F. They said JUI-F should shun ‘politics of hate’.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2023