Akakhel tribespeople demand recovery of lands

BARA: Elders of Akakhel tribe have asked the government to take action against the residents of Sheikhan area who have allegedly encroached on lands close to the boundary with the Khyber district.

Speaking at a press conference in the Bara Press Club on Wednesday, Malik Zahir Shah Afridi, Ikram Khan Afridi, Abdul Rehman Afridi and others said that the Sheikhan residents had illegal occupied lands of the Akakhel tribe on the Frontier Road.

The elders said the erstwhile British rulers had drawn the boundary between Khyber and Peshawar districts on the main Frontier Road in 1912.

“When we were displaced from Khyber district and settled in other places during pronged militancy, the Sheikhan residents, particularly Malik Akbar Khan, occupied our lands,” Malik Zahir Shah claimed. They warned that if the government did not take action against the accused, they would take action against the Sheikhan residents on their own. They demanded the chief minister, governor and other officials to take action against the land mafia as soon as possible.