Tribesmen end protest after demands met

BARA: The members of the Shalobar tribe reopened the Pak-Afghan Highway after staging a sit-in for four days in Bara as the administration allowed them to open the stone-crushing plants.

Member National Assembly (MNA) Iqbal Afridi, Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shafiq Afridi and Assistant Commissioner Bara Naik Muhammad Bangash inaugurated the Besey stone-crushing plants that were closed for 13 years.

The Shalobar tribe elders had announced boycott of the anti-polio campaign to force the government meet their demands. The officials also administered anti-polio drops to the children when the protest was ended.

MNA Iqbal Afridi, MPA Shafiq Afridi, Malik Zahir Shah, Malik Duran Gul, Malik Syed Mar Jan, Shah Faisal, Pir Abdullah Shah, DSP Traffic Malik Mazhar Afridi, SHO of Bara Shamshad Khan were present on the occasion.

“We appreciated the parliamentarians, political leaders and elders of all Afridi tribes who participated in the protest,” an elder of the Shalobar tribe told the media. He said the Shalobar tribespeople were facing financial problems when their stone-crushing plants were closed, adding around 10,000 people were working in the plants.