KP receives rain,snowfall, mercury dips

PESHAWAR: The plain and mountainous areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received rain and snowfall on Friday, making the weather colder.

A light shower lashed the provincial capital early in the day, bringing the temperature down. The rain-thunderstorm occurred at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan divisions.

Kalam in Swat district received 27 millimetre rain followed by Buner with 20, Balakot 19, Bisham 16, Kakul, Cherat (each) 15, Pattan 14, Saidu Sharif 13,Takht Bhai 10, Timergara, Dir (each) 09, Mirkhani 07, Peshawar 05, Drosh & Malam Jabba (each) 03, Chitral& DI Khan (each) Trace.

The Meteorological Department forecast widespread rain-thunderstorm (with snowfall over the hills/ heavy falls at a few places) in Malakand, Shangla,Swat, Chitral, Upper & Lower Dir, Bajaur, Buner, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Kohistan, Battagram, Torghar, districts, while scattered rain-thunderstorm is expected in Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mohmand, Khyber, Kohat, Hangu, Orakzai, Kurram, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Tank, South Waziristan and North Waziristan districts today (Saturday).

Our correspondent adds from Mansehra: The upper parts of Hazara received rain and snowfall on Friday.

The rain in plains and snowfall at hilly areas of Mansehra, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Torghar districts started in the wee hours and continued intermittently the entire day bringing the mercury down. The rainy water was flowing on Karakoram Highway in Dasu.

The heavy snowfall in Kaghan valley also blocked link roads at various places. In Swat Kalam and other areas also received snofall, forcing the residents to stay indoors.

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Blockade of roads by JUI-F challenged in PHC

By Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: A lawyer on Friday challenged the blockade of roads in different cities of the country by the workers of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

Shah Faisal Utmankhel moved the PHC pleading that the blockade of roads by the JUI-F workers in different cities was causing inconvenience to the general public.

The JUI-F workers have been blocking the highways in various areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as part of the party’s so-called “Plan B” of its protest campaign after winding up its 14-day sit-in in Islamabad.

The petitioner said the JUI-F leaders had told the court in a writ petition before the Islamabad protest sit-in that they would remain peaceful. “The party workers are now blocking roads, which is violation of the basic human rights,” he argued.

The petitioner asked the PHC to stop the JUI-F from blocking highways and direct it to remain peaceful as per its commitment to the court recently.

The PHC last month had directed the KP government not to block the roads by placing containers for the workers of JUI-F and other opposition parties who were planning to take part in the Azadi March at Islamabad. The court also directed the JUI-F workers to remain peaceful.

A division bench of the PHC comprising Justice Ikramullah and Justice Waqar Ahmad on Friday sent notices to the leaders of the JUI-F to submit comments at the next hearing and directed them to honour their commitment made during the previous case.