Cattle market reopens in Bara after 30 years

BARA: A cattle market was inaugurated in Bara tehsil in Khyber tribal district on Monday. Social worker Shafiq Afridi and Chairman of Bara Traders Union Said Ayaz Wazir and other traders cut the ribbon to inaugurate the cattle market.

Shafiq Afridi said the cattle market situated in Akakhel area near Bara Bazaar has been reopened about 30 years.

“Business activities have returned to the markets in Bara after the security forces cleared it two years ago,” Shafiq told reporters, adding, that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor visited the Bara Bazaar and urged the people to restart businesses.

The Bara Bazaar was closed down when the security forces launched the operation against the banned militant organization, Lashkar-e-Islam-led by Mangal Bagh in 2009. “Peace has returned to the area now,” said Said Ayaz Wazir. He hoped the cattle market would help create income generation activity for the local people, who have faced a lot of problems in recent years.

The businessman expressed happiness over the development and added that the cattle market was accessible from all sides and people could visit it easily. Thirty years ago, there was a cattle market in Bara that wasflourishing with the mutual cooperation of all the tribes living around the areas, recalled Gul Amin, a trader.

“Thousands of people will get jobs now as Bara cattle market was much popular in the past,” he expressed the hope. The trader asked the government for providing more such facilities and income generation opportunities to the locals.

He added that all those people who have left Bara due to instability in should return home as peace had been restored. “They should come here and restart businesses as complete peace had been restored now, ”said the trader.