Tehsil headquarters squabble: Shinkiari committee warns of moving PHC

Says it will get stay order against chief minister’s decision

MANSEHRA: The members of an action committee for Shinkiari tehsil said on Monday that they would approach the high court if their demand to relocate the tehsil headquarters from Baffa to Shinkiari was not addressed.

While speaking at a consultation meeting held at his residence, the committee president, Haji Bashir Khan, said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak ignored the demands and protests of the residents of 12 union councils. Khattak announced that Baffa would be made the headquarters of the new tehsil, Baffa-Pakhal.

He added majority of the population was not pleased with this decision.



Bashir Khan said Shinkiari was an ideal place for the tehsil headquarters, but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has kept its record of “taking U-turns”. He believed the provincial government took the step to appease a few party workers, while choosing to disappoint the majority of people.

He added if Baffa was selected as tehsil headquarters on the basis of land, then Shinkiari has the benefit of 300 kanals owned by the forest and irrigation departments.

Although the land was illegally occupied, he said, it could be reclaimed.

“Only 90 kanals of land is required for office buildings of tehsil headquarters and that can easily be reclaimed from illegal occupants.”

Warning

He said if the provincial government did not change its decision, the Shinkiari Action Committee would approach the high court to get a stay order.

A member of the Mansehra district council, Sardar Shah Khan, was also present on the occasion.

Traders and local government representatives observed a complete strike, held a sit-in and took out a procession when Khattak visited the area in the first week of August to announce Baffa as the tehsil headquarters.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2016.