Skip to main content

Leader of weeks-long Parachinar sit-in arrested: police

An organiser of a weeks-long sit-in being held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Parachinar city located in Kurram district against the prolonged closure of Parachinar-Thall Road was arrested on Sunday, the police said.

The Thall-Parachinar Road — the only thoroughfare leading to the city — has been closed since the Nov 21, 2024 attack on a convoy in the Bagan area that left more than 50 dead. Ensuing clashes stemming from decades-old land disputes claimed at least 130 more lives.

A ceasefire agreement reached in January suffered setbacks as attacks continued on aid and government convoys. However, tribal leaders again agreed on an eight-month truce on March 29.

“The Kurram police have arrested Malik Zartaj in Upper Kurram [tehsil] and Imran Maqbool in Lower Kurram [tehsil],” said a statement from the district police officer’s office, confirming the detention of Zartaj, who was among the leaders of the sit-in that began on March 2.

However, it did not specify any reason for the arrests or any further details about them, adding that raids were also being carried out to arrest PTI’s Khawaja Naheed.

A sit-in against the road closure began on March 2, with elders Zartaj and Musarat Bangash among its participants.

Demonstrations to protest the detention were held at various locations in Parachinar, a Dawn.com correspondent reported. Bangash termed Zartaj’s arrest as “unfortunate”.

He said: “We have been forced to hold a peace rally over Malik Zartaj’s arrest and to [demand] the re-opening of roads. We have been staging a sit-in outside the press club for the past 50 days [but] no step is being taken to establish peace.”

At the sit-in last month, the protesters had said the demonstration would continue until the road was opened. They also lamented that the weekly convoy of supplies for the people there was insufficient.

In the most recent incident, at least three people were killed and several others went missing on Friday when unidentified assailants attacked a group of people travelling from Parachinar to Peshawar in Lower Kurram’s Bagan area, triggering protests across the district.

The district administration has said all possible measures are being taken to provide relief to the people.

Around a month ago, teams from the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) and Pakistan International Airlines also assessed Parachinar airport’s operational feasibility for commercial and humanitarian flights.

The KP government in February had announced a fresh operation against militants in Kurram in February, arresting at least 30 miscreants and facilitators in Lower Kurram tehsil.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/ecr9kF3
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ministers rubbish notion that proposed retirement age extension to favour ‘one particular institution’

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday rubbished the notion that a proposed extension in the retirement age was to favour “one particular institution”, adding that the move would be implemented across the board if approved. The rebuttal comes in the wake of media reports claiming that the government was mulling changes to the Constitution to fix the tenure of the chief justice . Currently, judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, retire after attaining the age of superannuation, i.e. 65 years, as stipulated in Article 179 of the Constitution. While giving his opinion recently on the reports of the constitutional amendment, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had said he “will not vehemently turn down the proposals related to the tenure of the chief justice”. Addressing the issue during a press conference in Islamabad today along since Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and the law minister, Attaullah said the extension in the retirement age was “a proposal to a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Republican primary race for president in 2024

The Republican primary race for president in 2024 is already shaping up to be a competitive one. There are a number of high-profile candidates who have already announced their intention to run, and more are expected to join the field in the coming months. The frontrunner for the nomination is former President Donald Trump. Trump has been teasing a 2024 run for months, and he has a large and loyal following among Republican voters. However, he is also a polarizing figure, and his candidacy could alienate some moderate Republicans. Another potential contender for the nomination is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has been praised by many conservatives for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his opposition to vaccine mandates. He is also seen as a rising star in the Republican Party. Other potential candidates include former Vice President Mike Pence, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Senator Tim Scott. Pence is a more traditional Republican who could appeal to moderate vote...
1 comment
Read more

Islamabad court issues non-bailable warrants for KP CM Gandapur in 2016 weapons and liquor case

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in connection with a 2016 case , in which he was accused of carrying alcohol and unlicensed weapons. On July 29, Civil Judge Shaista Khan Kundi summoned Gandapur for recording his testimony in the case. Judge Shaista had directed Gandapur to ensure his presence on September 4 (today) for recording his statement under section 342 of the criminal procedure code (CrPC), observing that he has already skipped five hearings in the case. In the hearing today, the judge rejected Gandapur’s request for exemption from physical appearance in court on medical grounds. The court ordered Station House Officer (SHO) Bhara Kahu to arrest and produce Gandapur in court tomorrow. Gandpaur’s lawyers Raja Zahoorul Hassan and Fatehullah Burki appeared in court, engaging back and forth on Gandapur’s absence from court. “Where is the accused? The case was ca...
Post a Comment
Read more