Transport owners protest against parking lot in Bara

LANDIKOTAL: Hundreds of transporters and drivers on Monday blocked the Peshawar-Torkham Highway in Landikotal tehsil in protest against establishment of a parking lot for Afghanistan-bound vehicles in Bara tehsil of Khyber district.

The protesters were holding black flags and they also burnt tyres on the road. They chanted slogans against what they called an illegal parking lot where, according to them, the so-called transporters union workers take illegal money from each truck.

Long queues of loaded and empty trucks were seen on both sides of the highway. Speakers on the occasion said that hundreds of trucks laden with export and import goods had been parked at various areas of Bara, Landikotal and Jamrud tehsils due to the protest and road blockade. Transport union leaders Rahman Zeb Afridi, Malik Jan and others said they have blocked the highway to record their protest against the parking lot illegally established in Bara tehsil where a few persons with the support of police were taking Rs,5000 to Rs50,000 from each truck. They alleged that Bara police and deputy commissioner Khyber were behind the illegal gratifications in Bara parking lot.

When contacted, District Police Officer Muhammad Iqbal said that soon the Customs Department would remove the parking lot. The road remained closed for all sorts of traffic and the trade activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed due to the highway’s blockade.

LOADSHEDDING PROTESTED: Khyber Political Alliance activists, led by Mufti Muhammad Ijaz Shinwari, Muqtadar Shah Afridi, Said Jan Afridi and Murad Hussain, staged protest against the 22 hours long load-shedding in Landikotal.

They criticized the Landikotal grid station staff for the hours long power outages that irked the residents of Landikotal. The protesters demanded the authorities permit the cattle import from Afghanistan via Torkham border so that the residents could easily perform the Islamic obligation of sacrificing cattle in Eidul Azha.