LAKKI MARWAT: The Mamandkhel tribe and police have agreed to launch joint efforts to eliminate the menace of drugs from the area.

The consensus was reached during a meeting held in Kurrumgarhi area of Bannu the other day.

Chief of tribe Malik Mir Shamad Khan chaired the meeting.

The elders said that drug trafficking was going on in the area without any check. `The sale and use of narcotics has also resulted in an increasing crime rate in the region,` they claimed.

Malik Shamad asked the police to eliminate narcotics dens operating in the area within three days.

An elder said that drug addicts committed theft, burglary and other crimes. He askedthe police to crack down on drug barons and bring them into clutches of law.

The cantonment police station SHO Damsaz Khan, who also attended the meeting, praised the tribal chiefs for launching an anti-drug initiative in the area.

He assured the elders that police would tighten noose around the anti-social elements, including narcotics dealers, to purge the region of the menace.

An elder made clear that if police failed to bridle the drug peddlers the tribesmen would launch action against them on their own.

MNA DEFENDS SEMINARIES: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Maulana Syed Naseem Ali Shah has said that the seminarians are patriots, peaceful and useful citizens of the country as they are taught patriotism andpeace at the medressahs.

He stated this while speaking at the 37th graduation ceremony held at Madressah Al-Markazul Islami in Bannu the other day.

Other speakers included Maulana Azizul Hasan, Mufti Imdadullah, Mufti Abdul Ghani Shah, Maulana Abdul Waheed and Qari Wasifullah Shah.

The speakers highlighted the `positive` role the seminaries were playing in `strengthening` Pakistan and `promoting` Islam as a religion of peace.

The lawmaker said that the seminaries were the `strong` fort of Islam and those who were dreaming to close those institutions were living in a fool`s paradise.

He said that the students and teachers of seminaries were `safeguarding` the ideological frontiers of the country. Correspondent