200 booked for damaging checkpost in Kohat

Source Dawn

Police registered cases against more than 200 protesters on Tuesday for blocking Hangu road at Muhammadzai area and damaging government property.
The protest was staged by students on Monday after arrest of a teacher of government high school in a terrorism case.
The protesting students, who were joined by residents of the area, had blocked Kohat-Hangu road five hours and burnt a police checkpost.
The protesters had damaged armoured personnel carrier of police and smashed windscreen of vehicles.
They also burnt the furniture of an under construction checkpost at Zawaki Banda and took away its doors and windows. A policeman was also injured in the incident.
The teacher was arrested for allegedly running a parallel policing system and attacking the alleged illegal occupants, belonging to Bezote tribe of adjacent Orakzai Agency, of the village’s land.
The highway, which was closed soon after the arrest of the teacher at 8am, was opened by the protesters after five hours following successful negotiations between the police and elders of the area.
The SHO of Cantt police station, Aqeeq Hussain, told Dawn that the arrested teacher, Azmat, was a fugitive and his name was present in the list of wanted people.
He had been booked under sections 324,395,452,427, 148 and 149 of Pakistan Panel Code, registered on December 10, 2011.
He and other members of Muhammadzai Welfare Organisation had injured policemen, who asked them to surrender during patrolling of the area last year, he added.

Fazlur Rehman in Company Bagh Kohat

Source The News

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said since 1985 all elected governments were removed on the charges of corruption, yet corrupt practices could not be controlled in the country.

Speaking at the ìIstehkam-e-Pakistan Conferenceî at the Company Bagh here on Tuesday, he said the rulers had failed to govern the country as the money of the poor was looted.

The JUI-F chief said Pakistan came into being in the name of an Islamic welfare state but the purpose was not achieved. He asked the rulers to mend their ways and stop corruption forthwith as Pakistan was in need of a strong and stable economic policy. The Maulana added the big political parties in the country were playing politics like gambling to secure power and were least concerned about the economic slide down. On the occasion, Colonel (R) Shehdad Khan along with several others announced to join the JUI-F.

SANA adds: Maulana Fazlur Rehman said if the US is holding talks with Taliban in Afghanistan after 10 years of bloodshed then why dialogues are not possible in Pakistan. He said the country would suffer if parliamentary resolutions were not implemented in letter and spirit.

The Maulana said until a stable economic policy was not introduced in the country the fate of the poor could not be changed. He said 60 percent budget of the country is being spent on defence of the country.

The JUI-F chief said the tradition of selling the nation through oral agreements should end now, adding the constitution of the country would have been secular if JUI-were not present in the parliament.

He said that interim steps were taken after Nato attack on Salala check post. He said 40,000 innocents were martyred in war against terrorism in Pakistan and loss of billions of dollars was also faced by Pakistan.

Bank guard shot dead in Kohat

Source Dawn

Unknown gunmen killed a police guard of a private bank branch in Bilitang village here on Thursday.
Police officials said that as a result of the firing constable Salahuddin of Bilitang police station died on the spot. They said that a private guard of the bank and people there did not try to stop or fire at the fleeing killers, who were two in number.
Later, DIG Masood Afridi, DPO Mubarik Zeb and other officials reached the scene to record statements of eyewitnesses, who were reluctant to say anything about the incident. Most of the shopkeepers in the area shut their businesses to avoid police interrogation.
Later, the constable was buried in Chakarkot area. His funeral was attended by a number of police officers and officials besides a large number of local people.
The DIG has ordered immediate inquiry into the incident while the police arrested the bank’s private guard and some other suspicious people after the initial interrogation. The Bilitang police registered a case against the unknown killers and have launched investigation.

Woman burnt to death in Kohat

Source Dawn

A woman was burnt to death in a fire caused due to gas leakage in a house in Chakar Kot area of the city on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in the house of Shahid, who is the clerk of the district coordination officer. The 80-year-old woman, mother of Shahid, sustained serious burn injuries and died instantly.
The city police registered a case on the complaint of the government servant and termed it an accidental death.

2 get life term for murder in Kohat

Source Dawn

A man and his grandson were awarded life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in a murder case here on Tuesday.

The convicts Sharf Khan and his grandson, Haysiat Khan, residents of Kachai village, had hijacked a Suzuki van and later killed its driver, Qismat Ali.
The body of the driver was found in Khadar Khel area on November 7, 2010.
The deceased was killed on Hangu road and the killers threw his body miles away on the Bannu road.
The Lachi police had traced and arrested the culprits.
The judge of anti-terrorism court after hearing conclusive arguments from both the sides announced the verdict.
They were later shifted to the Kohat district prison from the court.

Kohat Jail, Lakki sub-jail handed over to army

Source The News

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet was told on Monday that the Kohat Central Jail and Lakki Marwat sub-jail had been handed over to Pakistan Army for conversion into detention centres where under-trial terrorists could be interrogated.

Briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting, Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that after proper identification and classification of the detainees arrested on terrorism charges and the under-trial prisoners would be shifted to detention centres in Kohat and Lakki Marwat.

“A list of hardcore militants has been handed over to the Special Branch,” he said, adding that some 107 prisoners had been shifted from the Central Jail Peshawar to other jails of the province.

The minister said the provincial government had requested the federal government and the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi to obtain permission for installing jammers to block the use of mobile phones at the Central Prison, Peshawar.

Six militants, one security man killed in FR Kohat

Source Tribune

Six militants and one member of the peace militia were killed during a clash with militants in the Jowaki area of the Frontier Region (FR) Kohat on Sunday, official sources revealed.
Sources said that security forces have launched an operation against militants in FR Kohat where they pounded hideouts of militants and killed at least six of them. It was further revealed that Wahidur Rehman, a member of the peace militia in the area, was also killed during the clash.
One member of the paramilitary force was also killed when a land mine exploded during a search operation in the area, sources added.
Security forces have taken control of Duaboki, Guluno Tangay and Babu kaly and recovered a huge cache of weapons during the search operation in the area. Sources said that security forces were proceeding towards Tor Chappar and would soon take control of it.
Security forces have launched an operation in the FR Kohat areas which lead towards the Orakzai Agency connecting parts of Fata and is considered an important route connecting Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with its southern districts.

Blast in Kohat

Source The News

A low intensity explosive device planted outside a house at Meri colony area in Kohat district Saturday went off with a big bang however, no loss to life reported, police said.

The local police and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

Search operation in the adjoining localities was started.

The bomb was planted in a box beside the main gate of a house which inflicted minor damages at the entrance.

The reason behind the blast could be personal enmity and the possibility of sabotage had dismal chances in the incident, the local police said.

Govt to provide land for Karak university

Source Dawn

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved provision of land for establishment of a university in Karak and urged the federal government to take measures for realising the project.
The decision was taken in a meeting held here on Monday with Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in the chair.
The meeting discussed possibilities of establishing sub-campus of Kohat University of Science and Technology and a separate university in Karak, however, the option for setting up a separate university in the district was approved.
Mr Hoti said that government was establishing higher education facilities in nook and corner of the province. Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan and its sub-campuses in different districts supplemented the fact, he added.
He vowed to provide land for establishment of university in Karak and undertake required legislation in that connection.
The meeting was also informed about the location of the proposed university. The resources of provincial government and royalty on oil and gas will be equally utilised to purchase land for the university.
Provincial Minister Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, MPA Malik Qasim, Karak ANP provident Usman Gul Khattak, general secretary Zamir Bacha, Provincial Finance Secretary Sahibzada Saeed, Higher Education Secretary Farah Hamid, planning and development secretary, Kohat University vice-chancellor and Kohat Commissioner Sahibzada Anis Ahmad attended the meeting.
The chief minister said that people of Karak and adjacent districts would benefit from establishment of the university. The establishment of the university would help to eradicate backwardness and illiteracy from the area.