Locals threaten mass suicide in Abbottabad

In response to not being paid as per market rate value for their ancestral lands

ABBOTTABAD: Residents of Salhad village and its surrounding areas staged a protest and threatened to commit mass suicide if they were not paid for their houses as per market rates as per the promise made to them when their land was acquired for the main CPEC road in Abbottabad. The protesters, which mostly included women and their children, said that officials assured them that the cost of their land will be paid at the prevailing market rates which amount to around Rs250,000 to Rs300,000 per marla. However, the protesters claimed that they were only being paid a meagre Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 per marla which was just a fraction of the value of their ancestral lands.  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2018.