KHYBER: Women in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber blocked the Peshawar-Torkham highway for nearly an hour on Tuesday to press the authorities for the release of incarcerated Kukikhel elder Malak Naseer Ahmad.

The protesting women ended their agitation in Sur Kamar area after an assurance from the local administration and police.

Mr Ahmad was arrested a few months ago when a number of FIRs were registered against him, charging him with inciting general public against the state institutions.

He is currently lodged at Attock Fort with the Kukikhel tribesmen arguing that he was falsely implicated in dubious cases.

SHARE IN REVENUE SOUGHT: The Landi Kotal tehsilcouncil has demanded due share in the revenue collected at the Torkham customs terminal under the Community Social Responsibility (CSR).

Tehsil chairman Shah Khalid chaired the session.

The participants argued that the CSR share was given to the underdeveloped areas for launching mega development projects.

They argued that as the Torkham customs terminal was now fully operational, the Landi Kotal council had every right to demand two per cent share from the overall revenue generated.

The council also called for abolition of two per cent cess imposed by the provincial government over the traders and transporters involved inbilateraltradewith Afghanistan.

The participants said that no such tax was charged at the Chaman border in Balochistan.

The council observed that theimposition of cess was detrimental to promoting bilateral as it had multiplied the travel expenses of traders and transporters, while the quantum of trade via the Torkham also decreased considerably.

The council, however, demanded of the provincial government to allocate a suitable share to it from the provincial cess collected so far as it was faced with acute shortage of funds due to limited revenue resources.

The council through a unanimous resolution expressed displeasure over the continuous absence of officials of various line and devolved departments and the district administration from its meetings, and urged the provincial local government authorities to ensure the presence of departmental heads in order to facilitate the legal proceedings of their meetings as per the requirement of the local government laws.