Protesters continue blockade of KKH on 2nd day

MANSEHRA: The members of Muttahida Kohistan Jirga continued blockade of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) on the second conductive day on Thursday to demand release of one of the elders who was arrested under maintenance of public order a day earlier.

“We ended the closure of the KKH overnight but have now closed it again to traffic till Maulana Kareemdad, one of the members of the jirga, is set free,” former MPA Maulana Dildar told the protesters.

The protesters from Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas regrouped at around 8am in the Pattan area of Lower Kohistan and resumed their protest, blocking the Karakoram Highway to traffic.

The jirga had announced a temporary suspension of the blockade from 9pm to 8am on Wednesday night allowing passengers stranded on both sides of the highway to proceed to their respective destinations in other parts of the country and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“We will not end our protest until the district administration releases a jirga member and former National assembly candidate, Maulana Kareemdad, and settles all outstanding issues, including reconstruction of roads,” Maulana Dildar said.

He said that the people of Upper Kohistan would protest and block KKH in their district.“We have decided to allow motorcars to cross over the blocked section one hour after Zuhr and one hour after Asr prayers,” Maulana Dildar said.

Deputy Commissioner Tariq Mehmood had invited the jirga elders to negotiate with him, the police and Wapda representatives, but they declined and instead held their meeting to decide their future strategy.

The jirga also expanded its members’ strength to double from the existing 45 members as each district has representation of 30 representatives.Police had arrested Maulana Kareemdad and a contractor, Aurangzeb, transferred them to Haripur prison earlier this week.