Developing park, other facilities at Basey Baba Mountain: Shalobar tribal elders ask govt to consult

BARA: The elders of the Shalobar tribe on Thursday asked the government to consult the local tribal people for developing a park and other facilities at the Basey Baba Mountain.

Speaking at a press conference in the Bara Press Club, Majeed Gul, Khan Ayaz, Gul Said, Khalilur Rehman and others said the Basey Baba Mountain is owned solely by the Shalobar tribe.

They said the governor, provincial minister, Peshawar corps commander, inspector general Frontier Corps and other officials visited the Basey Baba Mountain last week and announced to develop a park, hotel and landscape on the top.

“We are concerned as the government officials visited the site without taking into confidence the elders of the Shalobar tribe,” Khalilul Rehman said. He believed that the privacy of the local people would be affected due to the park, hotel and landscape on the Basey Baba top which overlooked the nearby houses.” This will be against the local norms and customs,” he argued.

The elder recalled that up to 70 crush machines were functioning before the militancy in Basey Baba Mountain. “At least 4,000 tribal people were working at the stone-crushing machines installed at the Besay Baba Mountain. All the locals lost jobs when the security forces launched the operations against the militants in Bara,” he said.

Khalilul Rehman said displaced people returned to native areas after the restoration of the peace but the stone-crushing units were yet to be made functional again. “Instead of providing jobs to tribesmen, the government is rendering them jobless,” he lamented, adding that the people needed jobs, not a park and luxury hotel on the Besay Baba Mountain.