MANSEHRA: Residents of Karori and adjoining areas on Sunday demanded the start of intermediate classes for girls in the only government higher secondary school in the Danda-Kholian area of Oghi tehsil here.

`Four years have passed since the construction of additional classrooms for the intermediate section, but the education department has yet to appoint teachers and fulfil other formalities,` former district councillor Hafiz Mohammad Yunus told reporters in Oghi.

Accompanied by a group of residents, Mr Yunus said most schoolgirls in the area quit education after matriculation as their parents couldn`t afford to send them to colleges in other parts of Hazara division.

He said former chief minister Pervez Khattak had upgraded the government high school for girls in DandaKholian to the intermediate level and even released funds for putting up additional classrooms.

`Unfortunately, the building and extra rooms are there, but intermediate classes are still awaited,` he said.

Mr Yunus demanded the immediate appointment of teachers and other staff members to the school for the start of intermediate classes.

He warned that if the demand wasn`t met, residents would take to the streets.

BAN SOUGHT: The people on Sunday demanded an immediate ban on kite flying, complaining dozens of children suffered injuries last year after they fell off roofs or suffered electric shocks from metallic string while flying kites.

`Kite flying has become a dangerous activity, so a ban should be slapped on it in Mansehra city and adjoining areas to protect lives,` resident Mohammad Azhar told reporters.

Accompanied by a group of residents, Mr Azhar said the sale of kites and their strings should be strictly banned.

He said the use of glass-coated kite string was also common, leading to the slitting of people`s throats.

The resident said boys flying kites on roofs or running after stray kites were also vulnerable to threats to their lives.

`Dozens of children were injured in such incidents here last year,` he said.

Another resident, Mohammad Ajmal, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should follow in the footsteps of Punjab, which banned kite flying due to the high incidence of fatal accidents.

ARMS SEIZED: The police arrested four people after seizing a large cache of unlicensed arms and narcotics in the Khaki area here on Sunday.

The arrests came during a search and strike operation ordered by district police officer Zahoor Babar Afridi, according to station house officer Tahir Saleem.

He told reporters that the police recovered shotguns, pistols, and rifles, as well as a large quantity of charas, from the detainees.