A Datsun pickup fell into the river Swat at Ramait area of Bahrain after the driver lost control of the vehicle. Muhammad Zeb son to Ibrahim, the driver drowned in the river. The locals started search for his body.

In another incident, 22 year old Fazal Hakeem son to Muhammad Raziq jumped into the river Swat at Bahrain bazaar for unknown reason. The locals conducted a search for his body.

The locals informed that professional divers are although continued their search for the bodies, the bodies were not found till the filling of this report.

Setting a seven-day deadline, the Jirga demanded the local administration to immediately transfer the ASP Mingora city for his abusive and inappropriate behavior towards the people of Swat.

According to the Masalihati Committee, ASP Mingora city, Ali Khan’s behavior is unprofessional and abusive.  “He publicly disgraces common people and frequently abuses the people of Swat which is against morality and the law,” said Zubair Khan, coordinator Masalihati Committee, Mingora. He added that he even does not hesitate to humiliate the members of Masalihati Committee.

The Jirga members unanimously condemned the behavior of the ASP and said that the higher authorities must take notice of his ill behavior towards the general public. “His abusive language with public is really questionable. His duty is to serve the people and not to humiliate them,” said the elders in the Jirga. They added that the people of Swat are generous and honor their guests but would never tolerate public disgrace by anyone.

They said that Masalihati Committees’ members feel privileged to serve the public without any honorarium.  They – along with police – try to resolve petty issues and conflicts arise among the local people. “Zubair Khan, the coordinator of the Mingora Masalihati Committee serves like a police in the area. We highly condemn the unsuitable behavior of the ASP and his abusing the Swat people. We make it clear to all the police officers that public disgrace will never be tolerated,” the Jirga said.

They unanimously demanded the IG KP, DIG Malakand Division and Operational Commander of the Malakand Division to take action against the said police officer and issue orders of his immediate transfer from Swat.

“If the said ASP was not transferred within seven days, we will chalk out our next move by calling a protest at the Nishat Chowk, Mingora” they warned.

The Jirga meeting was attended by the President Kanju Peace Committee, Inam-ur-Rahman, President Swat Transporters Association, Haji Rashid Ahmad, President Swat Butchers’ Association, Haji Khan Toti, representative of Swat Traders’ Association, Haji Hazrat Yousaf, Arshad Khan, Khalid Mahamood Gujar, Fazlullah Advocate, Coordinator Matta Masalihati Committee, Khurshaid Khan, Bakht Taj, Haji Zubair Khan and many others. The Jirga was headed by Haji Malook Khan.

To settle the matter, DIG Malakand, Abdullah Khan formed a three-member committee that met the Masalihati Committee and elders of the area, however, the dialogues between them failed as the Maslihati Committee said that point of the transfer of the said ASP was not taken into consideration.

Students of Govt High School, Kashorawere staging a protest against the self-fixed fares by the local transporters when the police exposed them to baton charge.

The bruised students afterwards resorted to intense protest against police violence. They raised slogans against the SHO MalamJabba and the DPO Swat and blocked the MalamJabbaroad.

The students demanded the provincial government, IGP and DIG Malakandto take notice of the incident and to suspend DPO Swat SHO MalamJabba. However, the students dispersed after the interference of their teachers and local masharaninto the matter.

The Mingora police Thursday exposed Mian Said and his brother, Said Nawab of Rahim Abad to physical violence at the MakanBaghChowk. The mediating people also had a share of the police bullying.

“I was en route to Mingora from Islampur when traffic police personnel beckoned me to pull over. Upon my pulling over, he asked for my driving license. He was bent upon serving me a traffic ticket. My brother who is also my conductor got off the van and requested the cop to notimpose fine on us. The police, however, began to bully him by pushing. In the meanwhile, Rahimullah, a regular police arrived at the spot and began to beat us,” Mian Said informed. The police also pushed back the people who tried to mediate between the police and the victims. The police spared the two after serving them a traffic ticket.

Saif-ur-Rahman son to Gul Rahman who runs a currency business in Mingora was ambushed and robbed on gunpoint of Rs 1, 344, 000 by unidentified armed men on his way to his shop Wednesday morning. The robbers fled the scene brandishing their arms in the air.

“As I left my home Wednesday morning for my shop, 4 armed men attacked me and robbed me of my business money at gunpoint and disappeared after exposing me to physical violence. The money included 18800 riyals, 4520 dirhams, 2, 200 dollars and 514, 900 rupees. I lodged the report of the incident at the Banr Police Station,” Saif-ur-Rahman said.

It is relevant to be noted that the head of the Damghar Peace Committee, Shah Dawran along with his body guard was killed in the same vicinity a few days ago.

In this regard, a certificate distribution ceremony was held at Mingora on Wednesday, attended by DIG Malakand, Abdullah Khan and Brig Akmal along with other army and police officials.

It was learnt in the ceremony that 50 police personnel hailing from district Swat, Buner, Upper Dir and Lower Dir were trained by the Pakistan Army on search operation.

Awards and certificates were distributed among the trained police cops by the DIG and the Brigadier.

In this connection, a symposium was held under the theme of ”Biodiversity Conservation of Medicinal Plants of Northern Areas” on Tuesday here at University of Swat.

The event was organized jointly by University of Swat and Agricultural University of Faisalabad in which the renowned scholar, Prof Dr. Zabta Khan Shinwari was the key note speaker.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shinwari said that the northern part of the country is rich in medicinal plants and there is a high need to protect them for the benefit of the future generations. “With each passing day new and strange diseases are emerging owing to which human life is at a high risk,” he said.

He updated the audience on the recent research being done in the field of biodiversity and made an appeal to the future scientists to make further efforts for the conservation of the medicinal plants.

Kashif Jan, representative World Health Organization (WHO), on the occasion pointed out major diseases. He also highlighted their causes.

Dr Amir Jameel, representative of Agricultural University, Faisalabad also spoke on the occasion and asked for mutual cooperation between the two universities on biodiversity issues.

Vice Chancellor UoS, Prof Dr Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan in his address at the symposium said that there is a need to work together in order to address biodiversity issues. “Efforts are underway to form an inter-university consortium which will surely help us in the field of research,” he said.

Earlier, delivering welcome address, Director of Institute of Plant Sciences and Biodiversity at University of Swat, Dr. Hassan Sher pointed out that the ultimate aim of the present seminar was to increase and create awareness on biodiversity issues. The seminar was also attended by faculty members and a large number of students of the University of Swat.

At the end, Prof Dr Jahanzeb Khan presented souvenir to the key note speaker, Dr Zabta Khan Shinwari.

Kashif son to Umara Khan of Koza Bandai was admitted to B-Ward in a critical condition where he died due to the unavailability of oxygen. The bereaving relatives of the boy staged a demonstration against the incident and raised slogans against the hospital administration. The demonstrators said that they asked the medical crew on duty to provide oxygen to the boy but there was no oxygen owing to which the boy breathed his last.

The relatives demanded the related authorities to take a legal action against the responsible people.

It was revealed by a reliable personnel at the WAPDA that a high capacity 20/26MVA transformer that was acquiesced for the Swat valley to cope with the power issue was shifted by the Executive Chief Wapdato D I Khan owing to the political interference.

The transformer was sanctioned in the wake of the 2010 floods and was supposed to be moved to Swat within few days. “The transformer, if installed in Swat, would have significantlyhelped decrease thepower overload,” a local leader said. The local political leader of Swat showed concern over the shift of the transformer to D.I. Khan and warned of intense protest if the transformer was not shifted to Swat.

The former ANP MNA, Muzaffar-ul-Mulk confirmed that the former government had released millions of rupees to Wapda for the transformer precisely intended for Swat.

The local leaders said that the stepping down of the former government provided an opportunity to the malevolent factors at workand wereindeed successful in theirmalicious designs.

The police arrested the driver, GulYarand registered an FIR against him.