Elders want Shalobar tribe problems resolved

BARA: The elders have asked the government to resolve the problems of the Shalobar tribe. Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, the elders, including former federal minister Malik Warish Afridi, Khan Qaleem Afridi, Khalil Afridi and others asked that the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) to stop construction work on the De-Tourer Road immediately and avoid seizing property owned by Shalobar tribe.

They said the district government should adhere to the age-old demarcation of land between Peshawar and Khyber districts instead of mutations that they believed were fake. The elders warned the district administration of Peshawar and the present government would be held responsible if there was any untoward incident over the issue.

They said the land between Shalobar and Sango, Achini, an area of Peshawar, had been demarcated long ago but some elements were conspiring since the merger to make our ancestral property controversial through fake mutations.

"Under no circumstances we will accept fake mutations and allow forcible occupation of our land," Malik Waris Khan Afridi admonished. He asked the PDA not to provoke the people affected by the project, adding the Shalobar tribe people should be compensated to end the unrest.

The elders said the crush plants owned by the Shalobar tribe which were closed during militancy should be reopened. They said around 40 crush plants were functional in Basey Baba mountain but the security forces had shut them during militancy.

The elders said the Shalobar tribal people whose homes in Tirah and Bara were destroyed during militancy should be released the compensation cheques for the losses forthwith. They recalled that the survey of the destroyed houses had been completed but the government had failed to release cheques to the affected people. The elders lamented that the Shalobar agricultural lands had gone barren due to a lack of irrigation water.