Anti-encroachment drive: Protests in Charsadda for third day in a row

Traders claim district admin officials violated agreements .

CHARSADDA: Shopkeepers and traders continued their protest for the third consecutive day on Tuesday over the district government’s anti-encroachment drive in Charsadda.

During Tuesday’s protest, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders visited the camp and expressed solidarity with traders.

The protesters, led by Hakeemullah Fauji and Maulana Salahuddin Sher, demanded an end to the drive, saying it would affect the economic well-being of traders and shopkeepers in Charsadda.

Protesters demanded an enquiry as, according to them, some district administration officials violated their previous agreements with traders. Under these agreements, traders were prepared to demolish the encroached portions of their shops by a mutually agreed date. However, traders said some officials have decided to take action against them before this date.

Additional Assistant Commissioner Noorwali Khan told The Express Tribune the provincial government took the decision to launch such drives across the province. “The district administration had informed the shopkeepers to remove their encroachments on Nowshera Road,” he said. “When they failed to do so, it decided to take matters into its own hands.”

Earlier, on Monday, shopkeepers shut down their shops and took to the streets against the district government’s decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2015.