KHAAR, Feb 1: The political administration on Saturday released 60 people, arrested for minor offences, on the occasion of Eidul Azha. Political Agent Pirzada Khan told newsmen that the freed prisoners were given Rs1,000 each to celebrate Eid with their families.

He said the orders for the release of the prisoners involved in petty cases had been issued by NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah. He said the number of inmates in the agency jail had been reduced to 120.

SHOT DEAD: A tribal elder, Malik Nazar Gul, was killed and a tribesman injured when some people opened fire on them in the Manro Jungle village in the Mamond subdivision on Saturday.

The victim, a timber dealer, had gone to the village to sort out a monetary dispute with his partners, sources said. When he told his partners that they owed him Rs12 million and demanded the money back, he was fired upon allegedly by a younger brother of his partners.

Tribesmen in the subdivision expressed anguish at the murder and asked the administration to arrest the murderers. Sources said the tribal elders decided at a jirga that the houses of the accused would be burnt down. However, they were stopped by the authorities from implementing the decision, sources said.