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.