LOWER DIR: Jamaat-i-Islami on Wednesday announced to launch a campaign for protection of the rights of Malakand people.

JI provincial deputy chief and former provincial senior minister Inayatullah Khan made the announcement while speaking at a crowded press conference in Timergara here.

He said party workers and general public from all districts of Malakand would participate in the JI protest rally to be held in Chakdara on July 29 to launch the `Tehreek-i-Huguq-iMalakand`campaign.

J1 former MNA Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, former MPAs Saeed Gul, Izazul Mulk Afkari, tehsil chief Malik Sher Bahadar and other party activists were also in attendance.

Mr Inayatullah said the former states of Dir, Swat and Chitral were merged into Pakistan after a deal that the people would pay no taxes to the government for 100 years. He said the Pakistan Democratic Movement government had declared the region as a tax-free zone only for one more year, which he said, was mockery with the locals.He said Malakand was the largest administrative division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, so the government should bifurcate it. He said the Malakand division had been adversely affected by natural and man-made disasters over the last two decades.

`The people of Malakand have been kept deprived of their basic rights,` he alleged, adding that was the reason the Jamaat had planned to launch a movement for protection to their rights.

The former lawmaker invited people from all walks of life, including traders, transporters, lawyers, teachers and youths, to attend the proposed gathering on the Chakdara Bypass Road.

He said the region was enriched with natural resources like minerals, rivers, forests, mountains, fertile soil and scenic spots. He said locals were the owners of these natural resources, but they were deprived of benefits. He demanded of the federal government to declare the region a tax-free zone for 10 years. He said the local people should be given the right to get royalty on forests and hydropower.

He also demanded of the government to provide the people of Malakand with electricity at subsidised rates.