Police use tear gas to disperse protesters

GHALLANAI: The police resorted to tear gas shelling and aerial firing against the participants of protest sit-in at Sagi Chowk on Bajaur-Peshawar road over a piece of land along the boundary between the neighbouring Mohmand and Bajaur districts for the seventh consecutive day on Saturday.

Also, the police conducted raids and arrested eight persons and sealed the Sagi Chowk and adjoining area to prevent the protesters from making a gathering again. However, the protesters later gathered at different points on Bajaur-Peshawar road and blocked it for traffic by placing stones on the road. The passengers and patients faced great hardships due to the protest sit-ins by the people of Mohmand and Bajaur over the boundary dispute between the two districts. Locals said that the coronavirus epidemic could also spread and miscreants sabotage the situation by spiking violence and bloodshed in the area if the issue was not resolved through peaceful means. They had said that it was not the right time to take up such issues through protest sit-ins or blockade of roads as the coronavirus epidemic had already posed a potential threat to the lives of people.