Shutdown observed against likely change in Malakand Agency status

DARGAI: The traders and shopkeepers on Thursday observed a shutdown and protested the likely extension of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act to Malakand Agency.

The protesters urged the government not to change the Provincial Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) status of Malakand Agency. All the shops, markets and business centres remained closed in Dargai Bazaar while the road wore a deserted look.

The traders also took out a protest rally in Dargai. President Dargai Malakand Traders Union Asfandyar Khan and others were leading the protesters. The speakers vowed not to accept the extension of the Police Act and tax net to Malakand. They said that hundreds of personnel of the Levies force would be affected by the extension of the Police Act to Malakand.

The speakers said the personnel of the Levies force rendered great sacrifices in war against terrorism and braved the threat posed from the militants there.

They said not a single Levies man deserted the force despite the uphill challenge of militancy and instead they laid down lives for the motherland.

The speakers feared that the Levies force would be disbanded after change in the status of Malakand Agency, which they termed an unjust action.