Medical store owners shut their shops to protest against the non-supply of medicines as two more bunkers were demolished in the restive Kurram district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 4, Dawn reported.
The district administration officials said that the bunkers were demolished in Lower Kurram, taking the total number of bunkers destroyed to 28. According to the officials, various steps were being taken to enforce the 14-point peace agreement reached between the warring groups and to provide relief to the people.
The office-bearers of the drugs associations shut medicine stores in Parachinar and other towns of the district, causing suffering to people who are already facing a shortage of food and other necessities, Dawn reported.
While addressing a press conference in Parachinar, officer-bearers of the association, including Syed Mohammad Hasnain, Rashid Ali, Syed Iftikhar, Sajid Hussain, Iqbal Hussain and others, stressed that patient care was at risk due to the suspension of medicines supply to stores.
They said vehicles carrying medicines were not being included in the convoy of trucks which carried essential food items, including sugar, vegetables, fruits, flour and ghee, to the district, forcing them to shut their stores. The protesters pledged to keep their shops shut until the supply of medicines resumed.
Meanwhile, students continued to hold protest, demanding the reopening of all roads. The students said that they were not able to travel to Peshawar and other parts of Pakistan to seek admission to educational institutions due to road closures. They expressed regret over losing their academic year.
Earlier on February 3, four bunkers were demolished as part of the ongoing efforts to implement a peace agreement in the restive Kurram district. Meanwhile, traders held a protest in Lower Kurram after a convoy of more than 40 trucks carrying food items arrived from Hangu’s Thall area, pledging not to allow them to head to Parachinar, according to Dawn report.
A traders leader, Haji Rauf, said trucks of traders were stuck on the Thall-Kohat Road for several months, but they were not allowed to travel to Kurram. He said they would not let the convoy of trucks move forward until traders’ trucks are not permitted to travel to Kurram.
He said the food items being carried in 40 to 50 vehicles per week were not adequate for the people of impacted areas and called for the reopening of all the roads. He alleged that influential people got their trucks included in the convoy, and such vehicles often went missing after arriving in Kurram, causing further difficulties for the residents.
(With inputs from ANI)
