Slain ‘missing’ person laid to rest in Kohat

Source The New


A missing person who was found dead in Peshawar was laid to rest in Togh Bala graveyard here on Saturday.

Hundreds of people including Muhammad Farooq, son of late Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi, former administrator of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, attended the funeral for the 35-year old Abdul Saboor.

Family sources said that Abdul Saboor, son of Zainul Abideen, along with his five brothers Abdul Basit, Abdul Majid, Abdul Qadoos, Abdul Shakoor and Abdul Baes used to run the bookshop named ‘Maktaba Madina’ in Urdu Bazaar Lahore. He used to supply copies of the Holy Quran to seminaries including Lal Masjid, the sources said.

Abdul Saboor along with his two brothers Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid, had gone missing four years back.

The body of Abdul Saboor was found dumped near the Haji Camp in Peshawar and was shifted to his village at night. He left behind a daughter and widow.

The sources said that Abdul Saboor had obtained a car through bank and it was later sold to someone. However, the same vehicle was used in a terror attack somewhere in Punjab, which apparently led to their arrest.

Lawyer Tariq Asad had already filed a case in the Supreme Court for their early recovery.

The intelligence agencies had confirmed to the Supreme Court that 11 missing persons including Abdul Saboor were under their custody and later they were shifted to the Adiala Jail. His two brothers, Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid, are still in the jail.

His family members have appealed to the chief justice of the Supreme Court and federal government to help release Abdul Majid and Abdul Basit.

Kohat tense on eve of Imam Hussain Chehlum

Source Dawn

Strict security measures and fear of any unpleasant incident have turned the Kohat city into a ghost town a day before Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), being observed on Sunday.
The Chehlum is observed on Safar 20 in the country, but in Kohat it has been rescheduled for Safar 27 (Sunday) for peace in the area.
Most of the traders kept their shops shut and attendance in the offices and educational institutions remained thin on Saturday, as the district administration had closed several roads of the city to traffic as part of security measures.
Commissioner Kohat Sahibzada Mohammad Anees chaired the 7th meeting during last few days concerning security on Saturday and appealed the elders from both the sects to observe restraint and remain peaceful.
The meeting, attended by sector commander of army in Darra Adamkhel, district coordination and district police officers and assistant political agent of Frontier Region, Kohat, gave final touches to the security plan and deployment of army and police personnel at various places.
The city bazaars gave a deserted look and traders of perishable items such as fruit and vegetables sold them at throw away prices due to closure of aH bazaars for the Chehlum on Sunday (today).
The business community complained that the police was not allowing people from the surrounding villages to enter the city bazaars. People on their part also didnotvisit bazaars and other parts of the city to avoid unnecessary frisking and questioning by the police and volunteers.
The artillery firing at the alleged hideouts of militants in the mountains touching Kohat, Orakzai Agency and Darra Adamkhel also added to the tense situation.
The artillery guns have been deployed close to the city near the Kohat tunnel and on OTS Road due to close proximity with the mountains.
The ear-piercing sound of the firing shook the houses and caused fear and panic among the city residents. Over 80 per cent of Kohat, a cantonment city, is semi-urban from where a large number of people daily visit the central city.
It is also the divisional and business headquarters of the Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency, Hangu and Karak districts and Darra Adamkhel (frontier region) of Kohat from where thousands of buyers visit Kohat city daily for shopping and official work.
Wajid Ali Khan, proprietor of the famous China Electric Store, told this correspondent that though it was not holiday or Friday, there were no buyersbecause police were not allowing people to enter the city from other areas for last three days.
The shopkeepers will also keep their shops closed onSunday (today) due to the Chehlum procession, which passes through the main bazaar and its arteries.
The people from Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency and Hangu also come to the city to join the mourners a week before the Chehlum to avoid ban on their entry, usually imposed to check entry of terrorists from tribal areas.
Syed Ghazanfar Ali, caretaker of Said Habib Iamambargah, also complained that the lawenforcement agencies resorted to strict checking in the city, which created hatred between the two sects.
Another imambargah was also situated in the propercity, which forced the district administration to take extraordinary steps for safety of the mourning processions.
Earlier, the mourners would hold main functions in the building of a girls` high school, which was closed two days before the Chehlum. Therefore, the government decided at a recent meeting to allow the observance of Chehlum only on Sundays so that holidays were not given on the working days.
An agreement in this regard was reached a fortnight ago with the effort of the Kohat commissioner under which Chehlum would be held on the very next Sunday after it was held all over the country.

Civil work of Kohat Tunnel rehabilitation completed

Source Business Recorder

National Highway Authority (NHA) has completed civil work in the rehabilitation of Kohat Tunnel and temporary lightening arrangements have also been made in this regard.

This was stated in the briefing on the project of Kohat Tunnel by the General Manager NHA at Kohat.
The Governor was told about the pace of progress on the under construction bridges on Indus Highway at Darra Adabmkhel which were destroyed because of the acts of terrorism and he was informed that one of the bridges will be fully rehabilitated within a month time.It was added that restoration of entire electronic system including installation of exhausts system is to be completed in two phases of which the first one will be ready through indigenous arrangements in near future while for the second phase orders have already been placed for import of certain gadgets which are expected within a few months.Talking during the briefing on the project by the General Manager of National Highway Authority at Kohat, the Governor also noted with appreciation that work on the construction of access roads on both sides of the new bridge is progressing well in accordance with the schedule.Speaking on the occasion the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Barrister Masood Kausar, while appreciating the pace of progress in the under construction new bridge over River Indus at Khushalgarh, expressed the confidence that it would be maintained to ensure timely completion.

Meanwhile, a delegation of elders from district Kohat also called on the Governor and apprised him about some of the problems which the people of the area have been facing.The members of the delegation led by an active social figure of the area, Sultan Hussein Shah particularly invited the attention of the Governor towards the lack of natural gas facility in certain parts of the district and requested him to help them in resolution of their grievances.

Governor KP escapes attempt on life

Source Pakistan Observer

Terrorist’s attack on a police party, deployed for Governor Khyber Pukhtunkhwa’s security duty, moments before governor’s visit to Garrison College Kohat Monday morning resulted in Shahadat of two cops.

Reports reaching from Kohat said the governor KP Barrister Masood Kausar was scheduled to visit the Garrison College Kohat Monday morning and the security of the venue was being beefed up with the deployment of heavy contingents of Police.

In the meanwhile, as the police sources said, a police mobile squad was returning after dropping the contingents at the venue, when it was ambushed by the unknown terrorists near Kohat cement factory at Rawalpindi road with sophisticated weapons.

The assault on the Police van resulted in martyrdom of two Policemen on board the vehicle. The miscreants as the reports said managed to slip away from the scene after committing the crime.

Heavy contingents of the Police and others security forces rushed to the site of the attack and kicked off the search operation but their hunt remained abortive as nobody could be netted. It was also learnt that entire staff of a roadside hotel near the scene was also found missing when enforcers of law reached the spot.

The police force and the security forces in Kohat, native town of Governor Kausar, had been attacked by the militants several times in the past which resulted in killing of scores of men in uniform as well as civilians.

Two policemen killed in Kohat ambush

Source The News

Two cops were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed a van near the cement factory on the Kohat-Rawalpindi Road, local sources said on Monday.

The sources said that driver Munawwar Khan and Constable Jehanzeb were returning to the Gumbat Police Station after dropping some cops in Kohat city. When the van reached a hotel near the cement factory, the attackers opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle, killing the two cops on the spot.

The gunmen managed to escape after committing the crime. A heavy contingent of the Bilitang Police Station arrived on the spot and shifted the bodies to the Liaqat Memorial Hospital for autopsy.

The police launched search operation after the attack and arrested several suspects.

A case was also registered with the Bilitang Police Station against the unknown attackers.

Meanwhile, funeral prayers for the slain cops were offered at the Kohat Police Lines. Later, the bodies were dispatched to their native towns for burial.

Transporters increase fare in Kohat at will

Source Dawn

Local transporters have increased fare on their own citing the recent hike in compressed natural gas price as a cause for it.
Under the law, only the district transport authority can increase or decrease fare of inter-city and intra-city transport vehicles. Ironically, the authority has no meeting for two years.
Though CNG price was increased by Rs8 of late, fare has almost been doubled leading to heated exchanges between commuters and transporters.
People said they used to pay Rs10 for van travel between Kohat city and Kacha Pakha on Hangu Road but after CNG price was hiked, the fare was increased 100 per cent.
They also complained of overcharging by transporters operating on KohatRawalpindi route and said of late, van fare from Kohat city to Rawalpindi went up from Rs180 to Rs1,000 due to suspension of CNG sale but the transport authority or traffic police disregarded it.
Mohammad Ijaz, who regularly travels between Kohat and Islamabad, complained of overloading by transporters in violation of traffic rules and said 16 to 18 passengers were huddled in vehicles against the seating capacity of 14.
He and other commuters demanded a reasonable increase in fare in view of the recent increase in CNG price.
They also called for end to overloading of transport vehicles.

Kohat tunnel turned into a suffocating ‘black hole’

Source Dawn

Built at a cost of Rs6 billion, the Kohat Friendship Tunnel has virtually been turned into a black hole due to non-repair of lights and the exhaust system, which were damaged by militants, causing nuisance to passengers.
Sources said that the National Highway Authority failed to renovate the tunnel connecting Peshawar with the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the last few years though its had been generating road tax worth millions every month since its opening in 2003.
Wishing anonymity, officials privy to the issue told this correspondent by phone from Islamabad that the contractor company closed the tunnel for repair in its first phase for 10 days in April last year.
They said that without carrying out any repair work the company was claiming Rs7.5 million, which turned into a dispute between the NHA and the company.
The sources said that the exhaust fans, imported by the Japanese construction company, were sold in scarp, but new ones had not been installed.
The NHA had decided in 2009 to float tenders to install new lights and exhaust system with a cost of Rs400 million after it was damaged by militants in 2008.
The sources said that some of the exhaust fans and lights were in working condition, but due to negligence in annual repairs they developed irreparable faults. The price of one exhaust fan was Rs10 million whereas the lights had to be imported from Italy, they added.
They claimed that the decision to award the tender to Siemens company had been made, but the start of repair work was taking too long.
At the time of the tunnel`s construction it was proposed that with the increase of rush, a second tunnel would be built by the NHA, which had got the training from the Japanese company. A
t that time the NHA had said that the second tunnel would be constructed in2011, but the number of vehicles using the tunnel passed the limit within three years of its opening.
The 1.89-km tunnel has cut the travel time between Kohat and Peshawar by 20 minutes and unlike Kotal Pass it allows longer goods vehicle to pass through it.
Now the railways department is considering constructing a new tunnel and starting a train service between the southern region and Peshawar.
Thousands of people daily go to Peshawar offices and return the same day. Similarly, people also go to Peshawar to catch a train for Karachi.
Besides thousands of students the overseas Pakistanis would also get a convenient mode of transportation from Peshawar to southern districts with the launch of train service.
An official said that the project was in the pipeline, but the current situation of the PR was hampering the plan though it could be carried out by obtaining loan as was done in the case of friendship tunnel.

Protesters block Kohat-Hangu road over SSP man`s murder

Source Dawn

Hundreds of protesters closed the Kohat-Hangu highway on Monday against the killing of a prominent member of banned religious group.
Sources said that Abdul Wahab, a member of banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Sunni Supreme Council, was abducted from the station area of Hangu on Dec 31, 2011. They said that his body was recovered from Matni area near Darra Adamkhel and shifted to Hangu for burial on Sunday morning.
The sources said Mr Wahab`s body bore marks of violence and bullet wound in the head. The protesters alleged that the victim was picked up by the law-enforcement agencies and later killed.
Earlier, Khasadar Force of Darra Adamkhel was informed that a beheaded body of a man was lying on the main road. An administrative official of Darra Adamkhel told this correspondent the body of Mr Wahab was found in the `nogo` region of Matni, located between Kohat and Peshawar in the settled area. The protesters were chanting slogans against the government and demanding early arrest of the culprits responsible for the murder.
Some police officers visited the protesters and asked them to open the road, but they refused to disperse till the Kohat commissioner or other high official would come for talks with them.
They said that they wanted to present their demands before the senior officers and obtain a guarantee for the constitution of a high-level inquiry into the murder of the religious leader.
The highway was closed till filing of this report and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the Kohat and Hangu districts on Monday night.
According to sources, the banned SSP members, pres ent at the funeral, warned the government and intelligence agencies to stop killing of their men and announced to form a strategy to stop such cases.

Imam Hussain’s chehlum rescheduled in Kohat

Source Dawn

The leaders of Shia community here have accepted the request of Sunnis for observing the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) on the first Sunday after Safar 20 every year instead of Friday.
The district administration notified the event’s schedule here the other day.
The Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) is observed on Safar 20 in the country, except for Kohat and Hangu where it is marked on Safar 25 under the 1986 Junejo-Moosvi peace agreement.
As the event is to fall on Friday this year, chairman Sunni Supreme Council of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat Javed Ibrahim Paracha requested Shia leaders and local administration to delay it fearing the Chehlum procession on the day may disrupt Friday prayers in Hazrat Haji Bahadar mosque and other mosques in sensitive areas.
To discuss the matter, Sunni and Shia leaders and bosses of local administration gathered at the office of Kohat district coordination officer Shahidullah Khan here.
Shia leaders led by central secretary general Tehrik-i-Fiqah-i-Jafria Pakistan Mazhar Ali Shah accepted the request and said the community was ready to observe the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) on Sunday (Safar 27) instead of Friday (Safar 25) for peace in the area.
Mr Paracha, who was also in attendance, expressed the hope that the agreement would be implemented in letter and spirit. He also urged the administration to ensure security of residential and commercial areas as the Chehlum processions were taken out in the area

Protesters block oil supply from Shakardarra

Source Dawn

The blockade of route used for transportation of oil from Shakardarra oilfields here continued on the second day on Sunday as the residents refused to end strike till provision of natural gas to their area.
A representative of SNGPL and officers of the district tried to persuade the protesters to end the strike, but they said that they would lift the blockade only when a responsible SNGPL or government official would give them a schedule for work on the gas project.
The elders of Shakardarra, where huge oil and gas reserves were found in 2001, had been setting deadlines for the government and the SNGPL to provide gas to the area according to the relevant law.
They said that former prime minister Zafarullah Jamali had directed the SNGPL in 2004 to provide gas to Shakardarra areas. Later, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti also issued similar orders in 2009 and 2011, which had no been implemented so far, they said.
Imtiaz Qureshi advocate told this correspondent by phone that they had set a five-day deadline for the SNGPL to announce work for provision of gas in villages where it was being produced.
Deputy district revenue officer Shahid Ali and a police officer also visited the place where the people had staged a sit-in to persuade them to open the route.
However, the protesters refused to do so unless they were given assurance of gas provision by a responsible SNGPL or government official.
They said that they were experiencing 20-hour loadshedding daily and the gas facility, which was their constitutional right, had not been provided to the area.
The residents said that they would continue their strike if their genuine demand was not accepted.