Kohat news bites

Source Dawn

The rains continuing in Hangu and Orakzai Agency for five days have flooded the Kohat Toi natural stream and thus, inundating dozens of houses in Hafizabad area in Kohat.

Kohat Toi originates in Orakzai Agency.

The rain water damaged the people’s belongings and forced residents to move out.

According to locals, a former MNA had occupied Kohat Toi section in Hafizabad area before selling plots on it. Also, cultivation of orchards in its way shortened the natural stream’s width.

They, however, insisted their repeated requests to the administration for crackdown on encroachers fell on deaf ears.

The stream bursts its banks every year and flooding nearby areas.

The local residents demanded strict action against illegal sellers and buyers of land on the course of stream to ensure smooth flow of water.

They complained that no official or volunteers came to their help and therefore, they had to vacate houses on their own.

MAN KILLED: An elderly man died and another suffered injuries after lightning struck them in Kamalkhel area on Friday.

The deceased was Nabeel and the injured Samiullah.

Local police registered a case and began investigation.

MAN DROWNS: Noor Mohammad, 8, on Friday drowned in flood water in Kohat Toi.

The efforts of the local residents and divers to trace the body didn’t bear fruit.

The deceased belonged to Dhoda area in Kohat.

DEADLINE FOR SHOPKEEPERS: The local administration on Friday gave shopkeepers seven days to vacate a hospital’s occupied land in Hangu, saying if encroachment stays put, shopkeepers will face the music.

The deadline was set by assistant commissioner Farrukh Attique during a visit to the area along with additional assistant commissioner Hussain Bangash and officials of the tehsil municipal administration and education department.

Mr Attique examined the land record and found that three shops built in a corner of the Liaquat Memorial Hospital at Hangu Square were illegal and that the property belonged to the health department.

In 2011, the administration had asked shopkeepers in question to pay rent to the hospital but the latter refused to do so.

POLICE FORM COMMITTEE: The police on Friday formed a 16-strong committee for bridging the gap between the department and the people and controlling crime in Mansehra.

Former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court Syed Ibne Ali is the committee’s chairman and poet Shahid Zaman its secretary, while Dr Matiullah Shah, district khateeb Maulana Sharifullah, Azam Khan, Feroze Khan, Mohammad Shuja, former district nazim Haji Sardar Khan, Dr Haji Gul, Qamar Zaman Shinwari, Malik Fazl e Rabbi, Mohammad Anwar, Shafiullah Durrani, Mian Shah Raza, Syed Haji Mohammad and Syed Qasim Ali Shah will be its members.

The committee was set up at the office of district police officer Saleem Marwat.

Mr Marwat highlighted the committee’s role for peace and people’s welfare in the district and said members of the panel would sit in the Saddar police station next Monday.

He expressed the hope that the committee would help resolve the people’s minor problems at the police station level.

Corruption probe underway against six ministers: CM

Source Dawn

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has denied the existence of a forward bloc in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and said that some members of his party have demanded removal of corrupt ministers.

He said this while talking exclusively to Dawn at Azeem Bagh, the residence of his adviser MPA Amjid Afridi, on the occasion of marriage of his son here on Saturday.

He said that allegations of corruption against six ministers were being investigated and if anybody was found guilty he would be removed from the provincial cabinet.

He hoped that the talk of forward bloc would automatically end after removal of corrupt ministers, if any.

The chief minister said that at present the government had stopped release of development funds.

He said that the government would first put in place a mechanism to stop corruption and from next year funds would be released regularly as required by the ministers, MPAs and the government departments for development projects.

On the issue of royalty from gas and oil of Kohat, the chief minister said that they were trying to divert additional funds of the MPAs and MNAs in Kohat and Karak to development and spend it on construction of hospitals and other big projects of public interest in southern districts of the province.

He said that at present the royalty and routine funds of parliamentarians were not being used properly and in this regard talks were underway with them to spend the funds in a purposeful way.

About local government elections, Mr Khattak said that the provincial government was ready for holding the polls and waiting for the decision and declaration of date by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He said that they would take full part in the LG polls and if required form alliance at district level with like-minded parties.

Asked about the peace talks with Taliban, the chief minister said that the federal government was doing its job in a positive manner.

He said that some elements did not want that the dialogue should continue for establishing peace. He hoped that the talks would resume soon.

Jirga held in Kohat

Source Dawn

A jirga was held to persuade the heirs of three victims, who were killed during riots in Muharram last year here, for settlement of the case with the four accused, who are presently in Dera Ismail Khan jail.

The jirga, held at the residence of former MNA Javed Ibrahim Paracha, was led from the side of the accused by former provincial minister Qalbe Hassan. The victims included police constable Noor Mohammad, pedestrian Khairur Rehman, a resident of Kurram Agency, and Arshad of Jhandi Pathak.

On the persuasion of jirga, the heirs of the policeman and pedestrian agreed to take compensation money and drop the murder charges against the four accused. However, relatives of the third victim, who was the activist of banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), said they wanted the law to take its course.

Currently, four members of Said Habib Imambargah are in DI Khan central prison since November last year. They include the imambargah’s caretaker Muharram Ali Shah, Ghazanfar Hussain, Abid Ali Shah and Haider Ali Shah.

Meanwhile, the family of the caretaker of Qaumi Imambargah Sher Mohammad Tori, who was killed on Feb 21 in Kohat, has withdrawn the case registered against three SSP members.

The relatives withdrew the case against Obaidullah Haideri, Shakeel and an unknown person after it emerged during investigations that Mr Tori was killed by his nephew for refusing to give him the hand of his daughter.

The police have registered a new FIR against the nephew of Mr Tori.

Drug addiction on the rise in Kohat

Source Dawn

The number of heroin addicts is increasing in Kohat with each passing day as the police have turned a blind eye to the drug pushing business in the suburbs of the city, the residents complain.

They said that drug addicts regularly gathered under a water tank near Sangerh Mohallah in Kohat city to take their daily dose.

Heroin addicts also regularly thronged a place behind the fertiliser plant on Rawalpindi Road close to Sheikhan and Darra Adamkhel every afternoon to purchase heroin, the residents alleged.

The area is situated in the limits of Saddar police station.

The police were unable to clear the area from armed drug peddlers, who had been selling drugs to hundreds of addicts in the settled area for the last several decades, they said.

The residents of the city demanded of the authorities to take concrete steps to eradicate drug addiction and clear the area of drug pushers.

Senate body to consult stakeholders on oil refinery

The Senate standing committee on petroleum and natural resources on Tuesday formed a three-member subcommittee to take all stakeholders on board about the selection of the site for construction of oil refinery and related issues.

The committee met here at the Commissioner’s House with its chairman, Senator Mohammad Yousuf, in the chair.

The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited officials, deputy managing director of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, managing director of Pakistan State Oil, representative of Hungarian MOL Company, local MNA Sheharyar Afridi, adviser to chief minister Amjid Khan Afridi, MPA Ziaullah Bangash, deputy speaker in the provincial assembly Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, Kohat division commissioner Syed Jalaluddin and MPA Shah Faisal from Hangu, other officials concerned were in attendance.

The subcommittee comprising Senators Nabi Bangash, Talah Mahmood and Usman Saifullah has been tasked with visiting all sites of oil and gas exploration companies for discussion on the companies’ shares in the stock market, welfare programmes in the region other than royalty, LPG quota and implementation of job quota for local people in the companies in line with the Supreme Court decision.

The chair said 13 tons of LPG plant had been installed but gas was being given to outsiders.

He ordered allocation of all gas quota to the local businessmen saying such a small quantity could not be exported outside the district.

The chair expelled the SNGPL deputy managing director from the hall because managing director failed to attend the meeting despite intimation.

He said very important decisions had been taken in the meeting for which presence of signing authority was indispensable.

The committee advised the companies especially the PSO not to create confusion about the site of the construction of oil refinery and start work on it without further delay after selecting the district and site.

Source Dawn

Rules violated in Kohat varsity appointments

The syndicate of the Kohat University of Science and Technology has appointed 30 PhDs as assistant professors after approval by the selection board against the rules.

The assistant professors, who had completed their PhDs, were appointed in BPS-19 under the old Basic Pay Scale (BPS) system of appointment instead of the current tenure track (TT) system after three-day marathon meeting of the syndicate held recently, according to sources.

Under the rules, once university or degree-awarding institution adopts the TT system for appointments, PhD degree holders can’t be appointed assistant professors under the old BPS system.

The sources said the registrar of the university working in BPS-18 was also promoted to BPS-19 by the selection board and appointed in BPS system as assistant professor.

They said the registrar had been working in BPS-18 for two years and was awarded BPS-19 suddenly though under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Act, 2012, the registrar should be an experienced officer of BPS-19 or above.

The sources said the registrar was serving in BPS-18 against the rules.

They said the syndicate approved the agenda in two days without putting it before the members for review 10 days before holding the meeting under the laws.

When contacted, the public relations officer of the university claimed that all appointments in the university had been made in line with the rules.

He said the syndicate met a fortnight ago with the vice chancellor in the chair and professors, assistant professors, deans and associate professors, who were changed after every three years to ensure transparency in the appointments, in attendance.The PRO said the selection board of every faculty was separate and when a large number of appointments were to be made, two PhDs were made part of the board as experts of the relevant subjects.

He said the members of the selection board, too, were changed after every three years.

Meanwhile, the students have demanded the immediate lifting of ban on their assembly and the transfer of the vice chancellor.

Source Dawn

Crackdown on power thieves in Kohat on cards

Kohat divisional commissioner Syed Jamaluddin has said a crackdown would be launched against power thieves in Kohat, Hangu and Karak districts to minimise loadshedding time.

Chairing a meeting in his office on Friday, he constituted a joint working committee comprising army officers and bureaucrats to monitor the affairs of Wapda, and directed it to submit its report every fortnight for providing relief to consumers. The committee would comprise station commander, Kohat, deputy inspector general of Kohat region, deputy commissioners and district police officers of the three districts.

Mr Jamaluddin said Wapda meter readers were putting burden of power theft on the consumers who paid bills regularly, and directed that the practice should be stopped forthwith.

He said that Wapda officials were involved in power theft and directed action against such elements. Army’s station commander, Pesco executive engineer, sub-divisional officers of Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly deputy speaker Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, MNA Shehyar Afridi and other relevant officials were in attendance.

Mr Jamaluddin said that prior to launching of the crackdown a campaign would be started across the Kohat division to make people aware that power theft led to increased loadshedding and power breakdowns.

The commissioner asked that the Wapda officials to provide a list of the consumers who had not been paying power bills since long.

He also directed that the practice of severing connections to those consumers who paid bills regularly should be done away with and that influential people who got off the hook for stealing electricity should be taken to the task.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly deputy speaker Imtiaz Qureshi said Wapda was responsible for power theft due to inefficiency and corruption. MNA Shehyar Afridi said a transformer at Rawalpindi road grid station had been damaged months ago, but it was not repaired, which was causing fluctuation in voltage and unscheduled loadshedding.

Source Dawn

Garbage recycling plant in Kohat soon

he Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved a project to establish a garbage recycling plant in Kohat at a cost of Rs40 million.

District development advisory committee chairman MPA Ziaullah Bangash said this while speaking at a ceremony of handing over keys of two tractors with trolleys to the tehsil municipal administration, Kohat, here on Sunday. He hoped that with the provision of the tractors the TMA’s performance would improve to timely remove the garbage and keep the city clean.

He said that Minister for Local Bodies Inayatullah Khan had approved the tractors during his visit to the district. He said that the minister had also set aside more funds for such projects.

Chief municipal officer Mohammad Shoaib and Kohat district president of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Hamayun Pehlwan were also present on the occasion.

Sources said that a big amount of funds allocated earlier for Solid Waste Management Project had gone down the drain. The provincial urban development board had purchased 80 kanals on Bannu road for the project, but it could not take off.

The plan was to collect garbage from the whole city and recycle it for making fertiliser. The provincial government had also appointed full staff and paid them salaries for many years though the project was never executed.

Similarly, Rs120 million released by the Asian Development Bank in 1992 for improvement of sanitation system and construction of natural fertiliser recycling plants had been rendered useless. Sources said that the treatment plant completed with a cost of Rs25 million was never made operational even for a single time during past 12 years.

The aim was to keep the city clean by upgrading the existing system to cope with problems created by increasing population for next 15 years.

Source Dawn

Kohat to have power transformer repair facility

The government will set up a workshop for repair of power transformers in Kohat district, meeting a longstanding demand of the local people.

This was announced by MNA Shehryar Afridi while launching a cleanliness drive here the other day.

District development committee chairman MPA Ziaullah Bangash, chief municipal officer Mohammad Shoeb, PTI and JI workers were also present on the occasion.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Afridi and Mr Bangash warned the TMA workers, especially sweepers, of strict action if they didn’t stop absenting from duties.

Mr Afridi said that due to absence of workshop for repair of power transformers people had to pay extra money from their own pockets at the private workshops. He added that Wapda officials charged Rs9,000 to Rs20,000 for repairing a faulty feeder.

Mr Afridi said that people had been demanding establishment of such a workshop in Kohat region to facilitate people of Kurram and Orakzai Agencies, Karak, Hangu and FR Kohat.

The lawmaker said that though actual cost of repair of a power feeder was much lower, Wapda staff charged people heavily.

Mr Afridi also directed the executive officer of the communication and works department to start repair of dilapidated roads in Kohat city.

Source Dawn

Police operation against outlaws in Kohat

Police have arrested 2,231 alleged outlaws from different areas of Kohat district during their two-week campaign against anti-social elements and recovered weapons and explosives.

ASP Mansoor Aman told mediapersons on Friday that they had arrested nine proclaimed offenders and 222 alleged outlaws from different parts of the district and recovered weapons, drugs and explosives from their possession.

The seizure included 31 kilogrammes of explosive material, seven Kalashnikovs, one Kalakov, 37 pistols, nine shotguns, seven rifles, a hand grenade and 34 kilogrammes of hashish.

Mr Aman said that the police were interrogating the arrested persons to know about their plans.

Also, the police raided a house in Togh Bala village and arrested five alleged gamblers and took into custody the stake money of Rs26,900. The police registered a case and have sent them to prison on the court orders.

Source Dawn

Booksellers warned to remove hate material from shops

 The administration has set one week deadline for booksellers to voluntarily remove material spreading sectarian hatred in the society after which a crackdown will be carried out on those selling such literature.

Additional assistant commissioner Nisar Hussain, Iqrar Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed chaired a meeting of booksellers of the city and told them that in the light of orders by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government they had been asked to take stern legal action and curb the sale of hate material.

The orders shall be applicable to the CD shop owners who sell Jehadi material to people and brainwash them. They requested the booksellers and CD shop owners to inform them about the sources of such material so that the menace could be weeded out from society.

They said that the government had imposed a ban on sale of such material. They said that the society was already divided among various sects and it was need of the time to promote harmony and brotherhood.

They warned that after one week the shops violating the orders would be sealed and the owners would be arrested under the law.

The booksellers present at the meeting promised to help the government in identification of people spreading hatred and remove all the controversial material from their shops.

Source Dawn

Would-be suicide bomber held

The police on Friday claimed to have arrested a would-be-suicide bomber in Nusratkhel area in Kohat district.They said the police barricaded a road and signaled a passenger van to stop. Upon search, the police arrested a would-be-suicide bomber, Amjad Noor.The personnel of the bomb disposal unit removed the suicide vest weighing up to 13 kilogram and defused it, they said.The police shifted the bomber to an unknown location for further interrogation. Sources said the security forces had launched search for his three other accomplices.

Source The News

CM approves dental college for Kohat

Source The News

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has approved the establishment of a full-fledged dental college in Kohat and directed the authorities for arranging the required funds and building for the purpose.

The Institute of Dental Sciences would be established under the Khyber Medical University and will be equipped with all the required facilities of dentistry. It will be a teaching institute and will cater to the dental treatment needs of people from Parachinar, Miranshah, other parts of Fata and the vicinities of Attock and Nizampur.

The high-level meeting, that approved the decision, was held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat presided over by the chief minister. It was attended by Minister for Health Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, Khyber Medical University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Hafeezullah, Controller Dr Fazal Mehmood, Secretary Higher Education Farah Hamid, Special Secretary Health Akbar Khan and other relevant quarters of finance and law departments.

Seven die in Kohat road accident

At least seven people including two women died and 10 others got injured when their van and a loaded truck collided here at Gumbat area on Friday.
According to details, a passengers van (LES-2680) was on its way to Rawalpindi from Kohat when it collided with a truck (DIK-2125) on the Kohat-Rawalpindi Road here at Gumbat area of Kohat district. Seven persons died and 10 others sustained injuries. The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Kohat and Peshawar.
Two of the dead were identified as Zaman, driver, and Jehangir Khan. The cause of the accident was unknown till filing of this report. Rescue teams rushed to site following the incident and shifted the injured. Some of the injured are reportedly to be in critical condition. The truck driver has been arrested by police and is being interrogated.

Source THE NATION

Arrest of ASWJ activists protested in Hangu

Source The News

 The activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) on Tuesday staged protest against the arrest of their colleagues.

The angry protesters blocked the Hangu-Kohat road for traffic for two hours and chanted slogans against the officials.Speaking on the occasion, the protesters led by Mufti Imran, Shad Muhammad Shinwari and others accused the police of harassing the ASWJ leaders. They alleged five cops of the Hangu Police Station had insulted ASWJ leader Mufti Imran. They asked the government to transfer the officials involved in manhandling the leader within three days.

The police claimed to have launched a crackdown against suspected persons in the Hangu town and adjoining areas. However, the ASWJ leaders claimed that their party activists had been arrested in the crackdown.

They warned of launching a protest campaign if the district administration continued, what they said was, harassing their party activists. They threatened to block the Hangu-Kohat road permanently if action was not taken against the corrupt officials in the district.

Leishmaniasis cases seen rising in Kohat

Source The News

The provincial government has failed to control leishmaniasis disease found in over 1,000 persons, including women and children, in the suburbs of Kohat city, sources said.

The sources said leishmaniasis had affected over 1,000 people mostly women and children in Barh, Jabbi and other areas for the last three months but the health authorities were keeping quiet over the issue.

Despite several attempts, District Health Officer Habibur Rehman did not attend the call as he had been in Peshawar for the last one week. When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Farrukh Attique said that he had discussed the issue with the DHO and asked him to take prompt action and send medical teams to the affected areas for vaccination. Meanwhile, Additional Assistant Commissioner Fakhr Khan said that he had informed the Health Department about the epidemic long before, but had received no response so far.

Mast Gul claims Kohat attack

Source The News

A militant group headed by ‘Major’ Mast Gul claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bomb explosion in Kohat in which 12 people were killed and 16 injured.

Fidaullah Fida stated to be the spokesman of this group, claimed responsibility for the attack that took place at a public vehicles stand in the busy Peshawar Chowk in Kohat.The group had also claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the Pak Hotel in Peshawar. At the time, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Peshawar commander Mufti Hassan Swati had also joined hands with Mast Gul to claim responsibility for the bombing.

Sources in the TTP later claimed that Swati was summoned by the leaders of the outlawed militant organisation and reprimanded for undertaking the attack. Mast Gul became known as ‘Major’ Mast Gul because this is how the Indian authorities, media and even some of the Kashmiri mujahideen circles referred to him. He fought against Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir where he led his fighters occupying the historic Charar Sharif shrine which was burnt down in the fighting.

Mast Gul later came to Pakistan where he earned respect and was warmly welcomed by Jamaat-e-Islami and other religious parties. He belongs to Kurram Agency. Lately, there are reports that he has come close to the banned sectarian militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

Body found in Kohat

Source Tribune

A 49-year-old man was found dead near Khan Market in Tirah Bazaar of Kohat city on Tuesday.

According to SHO Iqbal Mohmand, Khaista Khan filed an FIR stating his cousin Rab Nawaz left home on Monday and had been missing since then. Khan added the family could not find Nawaz anywhere and came to know later that his body had been found.

The deceased’s relative said Nawaz had a property business in the city and had no personal rivalries.

In a separate incident, a man who had been just released from prison was gunned down near Muslimabad. An official of Jarma police station said Umair Khan filed an FIR stating his brother Taj Mir was released from Kohat Jail on Tuesday and they were later heading home when their rival Ashrafuddin opened fire at them near Shangrila Hotel.

Mir died on the spot while the accused managed to escape. According to Umair, Ashraf suspected Mir of shooting his brother a year ago which is why he attacked him.

12 killed in Kohat blast, several wounded

Source Dawn

An explosion on Hangu road near Police Lines area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kohat district on Sunday killed at least 12 people and injured several others, DawnNews reported.

According to latest reports from rescue sources, two more victims of today's blast died, while under treatment at the Lady reading Hospital, bringing the total death-toll of the incident to 12.

Earlier, district police chief Salim Khan Marwat talking to AFP said “After getting the latest reports from the hospitals where the dead bodies and injured were taken, we can now confirm that 10 people have been killed and 14 others are injured.”

Security and rescue teams rushed to the site of explosion which was heard across a long distance.

Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, Nasir Khan Durrani, said that the blast took place near a passenger vehicle at Peshawar chowk on Hangu road.

Rejecting the notion that the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber, he said that it appeared to have been carried out using a planted device.

Durrani further said that according to initial reports, five kilograms of explosives were used in the blast which were planted in a wooden crate placed on the roadside.

The explosives were detonated as a passenger wagon reached Peshawar chowk injuring the occupants of the vehicle and the driver of a rickshaw parked nearby.

The victims were shifted to Liaquat Memorial Hospital whereas security personnel cordoned off the area. The Bomb Disposal Squad had also reached the blast site.

Further details of the attack and nature of the blast were not known till the filing of this report.

Shia leader shot dead in Kohat

Source daily times

KOHAT: A Shia leader and administrator of an imambargah was shot dead in Kohat on Friday.
According to Sadar Police Station SHO Iqbal, unidentified armed men shot dead Sher Muhammad Tori at Gari Nawaz Khan Chowk when he was going to local courts. The body was moved to a nearby hospital while the attackers escaped. Police have registered an FIR and started investigation. 
Sher Muhammad Tori hailed from Kurram Agency.
Separately, a low-intensity bomb exploded outside a shop in restive Matani area in the wee hours of Friday. However, no loss of life was reported.
Police said that the bomb was planted at a shop in restive Matani area and no casualty was reported because nobody was present at the shop at the time of explosion. The Mathani police rushed to the spot and started investigation.
The country is facing rising sectarian violence, with militant groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban often attacking gatherings of Shias, who make up some 20 percent of the country’s overwhelmingly Muslim population.

Imtiaz assures resolution of lawyers’ problems

Source Pakistan Observer

Peshawar—Deputy Speaker, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi has assured all-out efforts to be made for the resolution of the problems of Kohat District Bar Association on priority basis to bring maximum mitigation in their difficulties.

He expressed these views while talking to president, Kohat District Bar Association, Aman Khan Bangash here in Speaker Chamber the other day.

The Deputy Speaker said that being a lawyer it is a matter of honour that the problems of lawyers’ community will resolve by him, saying he will play his due role in this regard.

He assured leaving no stone unturned in the resolution of the problems facing the district bar Kohat and will be taken up at any level.Earlier, president, Kohat District Bar Association, Aman Khan Bangash held a meeting with Deputy Speaker and besides mutual affairs discussed problems faced by the association with him.—APP

French aid agency"ACTED" staffer wounded in firing near Kohat

Source Express Tribune

Gunman on a motorcycle fired on a vehicle being used by French aid organisation ACTED on Tuesday in troubled northwestern Pakistan, wounding the driver, police said.

The attack took place at Jarma, a low-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of the garrison town of Kohat, where thousands of displaced tribesmen from the Khyber and Orakzai tribal district as well as Afghan refugees are living.

District police chief Saleem Khan Marwat said staff from ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) were fired at by a man who fled on a motorcycle.

There were two staff members, both Pakistanis, and a driver in the vehicle and the driver was shot in the arm. His condition is stable at hospital, Marwat said.

An official of the NGO in Pakistan confirmed the details of the attack.

ACTED was working to improve sanitation and hygiene for displaced families.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Foreign-funded NGOs are viewed with particular suspicion in Pakistan after the arrest of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden through a fake vaccination campaign.

Minister orders free surgery of Hindu girl

Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Friday directed the chief executive of the District Headquarters Hospital in Kohat to carry out free of cost surgery of a Hindu girl, sources said.Thhe minister received complaints from the people at the CM Complaint Cell where one of the complainants, Madan Lal, requested the minister for the free treatment of his daughter, Bareet Lal, who was suffering from abdominal tumor. The minister directed the chief executive of the hospital in Kohat to carry out her free of cost surgery at the earliest.The chief executive had contacted the father of the Hindu girl and informed him that the surgery of his daughter would be carried out on Monday.

Source The News

Slain teachers laid to rest amid protests

Source The News

HANGU: Three teachers slain by unknown gunmen were laid to rest in their respective areas on Tuesday as community members staged a protest to condemn the target killings which occurred on Monday. The teachers in the district boycotted classes in protest against the killing of their colleagues Muhammad Khan, Syed Khalil and Faqir Hussain. Unknown persons had shot dead the three teachers outside the Government Primary School in Kach Banda. The protesting teachers blocked the Hangu-Kohat Road for one hour and chanted slogans against the district administration. The protesters, led by Asamuddin, Kifayatullah, Amjad Ali and othersm demanded removal of the district police officer. They also sought the Shaheed package for the families of the slain teachers. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Syed Ahmed Jan sent recommendation to the government seeking Rs5.5 million compensation each for the families of victims.

Internal politicking: PTI’s Kohat president suspended for violating party discipline

Source The News

The district president of the Kohat chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was temporarily debarred on Wednesday following a meeting of the district cabinet for violating party discipline.

At a news conference at Kohat Press Club, general secretary Sajid Iqbal along with other PTI leaders said 21 of the 31 cabinet members passed a no confidence motion against district president Humayun Pehlwan. A show-cause notice had been issued to Pehlwan to which he has not replied.

Iqbal claimed this was not Pehlwan’s first violation and he had been given several chances to explain his actions. A meeting of the district cabinet will be called within five days to elect a new president.

Pehlwan has been favouring other parties over his own and has been denouncing PTI’s policies in the media, alleged the general secretary.

“As the district president, he cannot take measures against elected candidates of the party in the province or in the National Assembly, nor can he favour members of other parties over PTI.”

Meanwhile, Pehlwan also held a press conference and rejected accusations of violating party discipline. He accused the general secretary of doing the same by sidestepping him multiple times to take decisions on his own.

When he objected to Iqbal’s moves, the general secretary turned other cabinet members against him, claimed Pehlwan.

“I suspended the general secretary from his position. How can a suspended party worker suspend me,” he said, adding the cabinet is yet to finalise its decision over these matters.

Pehlwan is a tailor by profession whose induction into the party’s district chapter added new life to the party and led to several new followers and members, shared a political analyst.

House damaged in Kohat blast

Source The News

A house was partially damaged in an hand-grenade attack in Dheri Banda in the limits of City Police Station on early Wednesday, sources said. The sources said that unidentified persons lobbed a hand-grenade into the house of one Faheem that partially damaged its boundary wall but caused no loss of life. Soon after the explosion, the police and bomb disposal unit reached the spot and collective pieces of evidence.

Commercial plazas replace guava orchards in Kohat

Source Oman Tribune

The guava orchards which once surrounded the whole Kohat city in northwest Pakistan and its outskirts are diminishing fast to give way to commercial plazas, depriving the area of the much-needed greenery and fresh air.

The worst-affected locality in the city is Jarwanda which had guava orchards for hundreds of years.

Similarly, guava orchards along the Bannu bypass, Hangu road and Dhodha would once provide a patch of cold breeze in hot summer to the city dwellers and travellers. But these have now been replaced by buildings, as several housing societies are active in the area.

However, guava fruit is still served to guests and regarded as part of lunch. Guava is a specialty of Kohat.

The guava tree takes about five years to grow and start giving fruit while the growers have to wait till then for return of their investment.

But now they could erect a commercial plaza within a year and start monetary returns because of the commercialisation on Kohat-Thall highway and other major roads passing through thick guava orchards. The guava orchards once occupied thousands of acres of land in Kohat, but entrepreneurs never thought to establish a profitable juice plant. The country spends a huge amount of money on importing guava juice, but locally produced fruits are rotting due to ancient techniques of preserving the fruit, which has a shelf life of five hours in winter.

The bureaucracy and politicians never bothered to invite officials from the forestry department or especially the department created for guava research to increase its output and lure the investors to construct the juice industry. There are still hundred-years-old guava orchards near Tanda Dam the most famous of which are located in Kaghazai area whose fruit is being sold in Peshawar and Rawalpindi for Rs150 per kilogramme.

The prices of guava orchards have jumped from a few thousand rupees to millions due to their high income in famous areas which produced apple-like sweet fruit.

Security men injured in road accident

Six security personnel were injured when their vehicle met with an accident while on way to Kohat from North Waziristan, Geo News reported Tuesday.

According to the sources, the security forces’ vehicle turned turtle on Kohat-Karak Highway when the personnel were on their way to Kohat from North Waziristan. As a result of accident, six troops sustained injuries who were shifted to a hospital in Kohat.

Hospital sources told that one of the security man is in critical condition.

The cause of the accident couldn’t be ascertained yet, however, the security forces initiated investigation.

Establishment of oil, gas refinery in Karak hailed

Source The News

PESHAWAR: The Khattak Qaumi Ittehad has lauded the federal government for establishing oil and gas refinery in Karak district and approval of fund for the provision of gas supply to dozens of villages in Karak, Kohat and Hangu districts.

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, Khattak Qaumi Ittehad Karak chairman Rehmat Salam Khattak, who is also provincial general secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said that a representative delegation of the Khattak Ittehad met Federal Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbassi in Islamabad who approved establishment of oil and gas refinery in Karak.

He was flanked by former provincial ministers Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, Farid Khan Toofan, former MNA Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz and other members of the Khattak Qaumi Ittehad.

He said the delegations assured the federal minister to provide full protection to public and private sectors for making investment in oil and gas sectors in Karak district, demanding maximum employment to local people, particularly educated youths, in the oil and gas exploring companies.

Rehmat Salam said the federal minister also approved Rs6.30 billion for supplying natural gas to those villages in Karak, Kohat and Hangu districts where gas had not been provided till date despite the fact that these districts were producing oil and natural gas.He said the federal minister also assured them to allocate special quota to the skilled and educated youths in oil and gas refinery.

Two coalminers killed in Orakzai

Source Then News

KALAYA: Two workers were killed and five others sustained injuries when a coalmine collapsed in the Doli area in Orakzai Agency on Wednesday, sources said. The sources said the labourers were busy working inside the Al-Hussain Coal Company No-II when it collapsed. The locals and rescue team reached the spot and retrieved the bodies of two labourers, identified as Niamatullah belonging to Swat and Said Rehman, hailing from Shangla district. The injured labourers included Sardar Hussain, Khialzada, Rehmatullah, Latifullah and Usman were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kohat where two of them were shifted to a hospital in Peshawar. However, the bodies of two workers were shifted to hometowns for burial. The sources said the coalmine collapsed when a truck entered the mine.

Three militants held with arms in Kohat

Source The News

Security forces arrested three suspected militants and seized a huge cache of arms near Kohat Tunnel on Saturday, official sources said.

The sources said the security forces pulled over a truck heading to Dera Ismail Khan from Darra Adamkhel and on thorough search recovered heavy arms, including 15 Kalakov rifles, 11 Kalashnikov rifles, 10 machine-guns, six grenade launchers, 10 repeaters, 95 pistols and 30,000 cartridges, besides explosive materials from the secret cavities of the truck.

Youth killed in bid to stop suicide attack

Source Dawn

A student was killed outside a school in Ibrahemzai area in Hangu on Monday when a suicide attacker he was trying to stop blew himself up, police said.

The suicide bomber tried to enter the school building when Aitezaz Hussain, a student of class IX in Government High School Ibrahemzai, stopped him.

A police official, Ali Murtaza, told Dawn that the suicide bomber was walking towards the school at around 8am when the assembly was being held in its main ground. Aitezaz became suspicious of the way he moved and asked him to stop. But the bomber detonated the explosives strapped to his body.

The police official said that the suicide bomber wanted to target the assembly. He said Aitezaz had sacrificed his life to save other students.

Hangu city police registered a case.

KP chief minister seeks recovery of gas loss caused by security threat

Source Dawn

 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has expressed inability of people in his government to enter the Kohat-Gurgury region because of the security situation there and has demanded that the cost of a loss of 11 billion cubic feet of gas in the region be recovered from consumers in Punjab and peaceful areas in his province.Advocate Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, the counsel for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and a director of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited, told Dawn on Monday that Mr Khattak had written to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority that it was difficult for his administration to do anything in the Kohat-Gurgury region.

A federal government official said that a chief minister was not authorised to write directly to Ogra, he could take up the matter only through the prime minister, the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination or the Council of Common Interests.

On the basis of the chief minister’s letter, Advocate Ahmad pleaded before a three-member panel of Ogra not to penalise gas companies for theft and gas losses.

Ogra Chairman Saeed Ahmad Khan presided over a meeting on a petition of the SNGPL for an increase of Rs35 billion in its final revenue requirement (FRR) for 2012-13 through a hike of Rs68.64 per unit in its prescribed prices.

He said when the KP government could not access the Kohat region and a major part of Balochistan was out of bound even for the army, it was illogical to expect employees of the gas companies to recover gas bills in such areas.

An Ogra official said the SNGPL counsel had argued that Ogra could not take such a decision without a public hearing even though the recovery was required under previous Ogra determinations cleared by the Lahore High Court and repeatedly stressed by the National Accountability Bureau.

Advocate Ahmad said the minimum monthly bill of a household was about Rs240 compared with Rs4,300 of those using kerosene and Rs4,700 for liquefied petroleum gas. The natural gas has become a fuel of the privileged class with 93pc consumers getting it at highly subsidised rate.

He said he did not support an increase in gas rates for poor lifeline households but for CNG and industries because the cost of alternative fuels used by them was at least four times higher than gas. Ogra reserved the determination for internal working, but analysts said that two members of the panel appeared inclined to accept gas companies’ demand for an increase in prescribed price for FRR.

ASWJ workers granted bail

Source The News

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued release order of 16 workers of Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) who were arrested and charged for attacking the shops of Shia community in Kohat district.

A single bench headed by Justice Musarrat Hilali issued release order of Haider Wakeel, Shakil Saddiqui, Islamuddin, Farhan Bangash, directing them to furnish bail bonds worth Rs500,000 with the court.

Counsels for the petitioners Saeed Khan and Ibrar Alam submitted there were allegations against their clients that in reaction to the Rawalpindi incident, they on November 18, 2013 set on fire about 27 shops of the Shia community at Teera bazaar in Kohat city.

Shifting of oil refinery from Karak to Kohat opposed

Source The Nation

Strongly opposing the proposed shifting of Oil Refinery from district Karak to Kohat, members of the Khattak Loya Jirga warned to stop supply of crude oil and gas, if refinery was not established in the district.
Speaking at a news conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday, Rahmat Salam Khattak, member of the Jirga and provincial leader of ruling PML-Nawaz, said that government has planned to shift the oil refinery unit to Khushalgarh area of Kohat on the pretext of shortage of water at the proposed site Kappra, district Karak. He said the proposed site was technically feasible for the construction of the refinery but the government planned to shift it from the district.
The Khattak Loya Jirga consisted of different political parties, notables of the district and local elders. They included Mian Nisar Gul of JUI-F, Farid Toofan of PML-N, ex-MNA Mufti Jamal, Noor Muhammad Khan, Maulana Mir Ikram, Col (Retd) Khalid, representatives of Khattak Itehad, elders and student activists were in the attendance.
The PML-N leader Rahmat Salam said that it was quite injustice to shift the oil refinery from Karak to Kohat without having any genuine reason. He added if the refinery was shifted to Khushalgar area of Kohat then about 100km long pipeline for oil supply from Karak would also be required. Besides, in the long run the long supply pipeline would be unprotected during worsening law and order situation, he cautioned.

On the other hand, Khattak said that government was even not ready to extend only 3km line for the supply of water from Indus river to fulfil the requirement of the proposed refinery in Kappra area of Karak despite the fact this site was earlier selected by former provincial government and Pakistan State Oil company, he maintained. Khattak also informed that about Rs250 to Rs300 million would be spent on pipeline expansion from Indus River to the already identified site. 
“If the government was failed to provide the required funds for the water supply line, then the entire Khattak tribe would be compelled to initiate the project on self-help basis,” he added.
Khattak also alleged that the refinery was planned to shift due to manipulation of the Chief Minister Special Consultant Amjad Afridi. “We will not allow supplying Oil from Karak to Attock Oil refinery,” he warned. He informed that about 50 per cent oil reserves in Karak, which is not acceptable to supply to Attock refinery and Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO).