North Waziristan traders demand compensation

PESHAWAR: Traders from Mir Ali subdivision in North Waziristan have warned of launching a protest movement if the government failed to provide them with compensation for their bazaars and shops demolished during the operation against terrorists.

Speaking at a news conference here on Friday, Anjuman-e-Tajiran Mir Ali president Zaheenullah said over 3,700 shops had been destroyed in the war against terrorism in North Waziristan since 2014. Similarly, more shops were also destroyed, which badly affected the local traders, he added.

Flanked by the vice-president Afaqullah, Mohammad Sherkhel, senior member, Mohammad Saeed and others, he said they had been struggling for rights for the last five years and even staged a five-day sit-in at Islamabad.

He said the federal ministers and authorities had assured them to solve their problems and hand over the data of the affected traders to the relevant authorities within 15 days, which they did, but nothing was done to date.

The traders’ representative asked the prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan and chief of army staff to direct the authorities to honour commitments with them and provide them compensation, or else they would launch a protest movement for the acceptance of demands.