Residents of Kolai-Palas block KKH

MANSEHRA: The residents of various parts of Kolai-Palas on Sunday blocked Karakoram Highway (KKH) for traffic to press the government to cancel the recently notified headquarters of the district.

The protesters blocked the Karakoram Highway in Pattan, the district headquarters of lower Kohistan, for over 8 hours, troubling the passengers. "The previous PTI-led government had notified Kolai-Palas as one of three districts of Kohistan and declared Batara as its headquarters. However, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan annulled it and notified Palas as new headquarters, which is unacceptable to us," Mufti Qazi Saifullah told the protesters.

He said that the people of Batara and its adjoining villages and localities would never accept Palas as district headquarters of Kolai-Palas. The protesters reopened the KKH to traffic at about 2pm following parleys with the district administration of Lower Kohistan and police but refused to disperse till the acceptance of their demand.

District Police Officer Salman Khan and Assistant Commissioner Nausherwan Khan assured the elders that they would raise the issue with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. "Though we have been reopening road to traffic on your demand, we will stage sit-in here till the acceptance of our demand," said Mufti Saifullah.