Bannu residents stop work on gas pipeline project

BANNU: A jirga of Bakakhel, Janikhel and other tribes here on Friday stopped work on the laying of a pipeline in the limits of Bannu district and demanded the government to give in writing that the local people would be provided the gas facility at the earliest.

The participants of the jirga said natural gas was discovered in Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan and the government was laying a pipeline passing through the limits of the Bannu district.

They said that the residents of Bannu should be provided the natural gas facility on priority basis or else they would not allow the government to lay the gas pipeline in their respective areas. They demanded the government to give in writing that it would honour the pledge.

The workers of all the political parties have joined hands to collectively struggle for the rights of all the tribes living in Bannu without any political consideration.

The people in Bakakhel have stopped the work on the laying of the gas pipeline, saying the government did not honour the pledges made with them in the past.

They said they would allow the laying of the pipeline if the government promised and gave in writing that the natural gas discovered in North Waziristan would also be provided to the residents of Bannu.

National Democratic Movement provincial general secretary Nadim Askar, Malik Muiz Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Abdul Samad Khan, Maulana Sabat Ali Khan, Waliullah and other local elders attended the jirga.

Meanwhile, the assistant commissioner and other officials of the district administration arrived at the scene and held talks with the people, who stopped work on the gas pipeline project.

It was agreed that a jirga would take place at the office of the deputy commissioner Bannu on Tuesday to hold further talks and resolve the issue through negotiations. However, work on the gas pipeline would remain suspended until the issue was resolved.