Female teacher says facing eviction as Bajaur PA allotted her quarter to army officer

MARDAN: Zahida Iftikhar, an Islamiat teacher of Government Primary School in Dag Qila village in Bajaur Agency on Monday accused Bajaur’s Political Agent of allotting her quarter to an army officer without providing her another place to live.

Speaking at a press conference at the Mardan Press Club in the company of her father, Zafarullah, and husband, Iftikhar Hussain, she complained that she is being forced to vacate the house. She asked the Pakistan Army chief and Chief Justice of Supreme Court to take note of her plight and provide her justice.

Zahida Iftikhar said she is a resident of Mohallah Telyanin Mardan and was appointed 25 years ago as an Islamiat teacher at the Government Primary School in Dag Qila in Bajaur. She recalled that she initially was living at the school and later shifted to her mother’s house in Civil Colony in Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur.

“When the law and order situation deteriorated in Bajaur Agency, the then Political Agent in 2002 allotted me this quarter located in the Civil Colony Engineering Workshop. Now 15 years later the present Political Agent has allotted the house to an army colonel. They are powerful people and want us to vacate the quarter,” Zahida Iftikhar explained.

She pointed out that there are several quarters in the colony but the Political Agent gave these on rent to unrelated people. “I wrote an application to the Political Agent, but to no avail. Officials visit my house daily and threaten me to vacate it. Where should I go?” she asked.