LANDI KOTAL: Owner of a hujra (guesthouse) in Jamrud which was destroyed by militants in 2013 for its use as polio centre had been awaiting compensation despite repeated request s to the government of ficials concerned since 2013.

Speaking to mediapersons at Jamrud Press Club on Sunday, Abdul Khail, a resident of Warmandu Mela, said that his son, Ishfaq Afridi, was an active member of polio vaccination campaign while the health department had converted his hujra (guesthouse) into a polio centre to facilitate polio vaccination in the suburbs of Jamrud.

He said that militants had threatened his family of dire consequences for his son`s involvement in the polio vaccination which he had to abandon. `My house was attacked with explosives which caused destruction of a major portion of the hujra in 2013. It was still not repaired due to non-payment of compensation,` Abdul Khail said.

He said that he had made repeated appeals to both the political administration and of ficials at the Fata Secretariat, but to no avail. He threatened to refuse administration of polio drops to children of his entire family if his demand for adequate compensation was not accepted.

Meanwhile, Abdul Malik, a resident of Walo Mela in Jamrud, demanded security for the family of his missing brother.

Addressing a press conference, he said that his younger brother Abdul Khalig had to resign from a foreign NGO and shif ted to a safe place after receiving threats from unknown people in 2014.

`My brother went missing some time ago and now I want to bring his family back to Jamrud,` he said and urged the local political administration for security as unidentified gunmen had attacked their house a few months ago.

FERTILIZER SEIZED: Khasadar force recovered 190 bags of fertilizer from a passenger bus and arrested its driver at a checkpost on Peshawar-Torkham road on Saturday.

Officials said that the urea bags were being smuggled to Afghanistan. They said that a strict ban had been in place on carriage of urea to Afghanistan and tribal areas as it was being used in manufacturing of improvised explosive devices by militant groups.