Daily Times

TANK: International day for persons with disabilities was observed for the first time in tribal district South Waziristan on Thursday.

In order to mark the day, a ceremony was organized at the Deputy Commissioner Office which was largely attended by special persons of tribal districts, tribal notables, political dignitaries, and officials of district administration.

Deputy Commissioner South Waziristan Khalid Iqbal Khattak honored the ceremony as the special guest.

Speaking to the participants of the event, he said after merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government was focusing to bring South Waziristan on par with the other districts of the province.

He directed the head of the all line departments to pave the wheelchair path to their office so that the disable persons may not suffer any difficulty in approaching any office of the district.

On this occasion, Chairman Waziristan Foundation of disabled persons, Javed Mahsood, President Mamtaz Mahsood and other office bearers of the Foundation demanded of the government to establish an institution in South Waziristan for education and Skill training of disabled persons and implement the announced 2% Job quota for them.

Senator Salih Shah Mahsood, Malik Noor Khan, Malik Mahsood, Malik Rapa Khan and other tribal elders also addressed the participants and ensured charity fund raising for disabled persons of South Waziristan, most of them the victims of landmine blasts. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at district Press Club Tank, Molvi Nazir Ahmad, Sifat Khan, Yasum Jan and other tribal elders of Mahsood tribe warned to approach court for justice if the district administration bilaterally decided the land dispute of Chorgazai area in tehsil Janata of tribal district South Waziristan.

They noted that the land was claimed by eight sub-casts of Mahsood tribe and demanded the government to fulfill all essentials of justice before reaching the final decision to award the disputed land to any cast. Meantime, two teenage girls were injured when a person opened aerial firing in a wedding ceremony in village Gara Shada in the limits of Shaheed Mureed Akbar (SMA) Police Station, police said Thursday.

The wounded girls were identified as Sunar bibi and Rabia bibi who were rushed to DHQ Hospital Tank where doctors referred both of them to Dera Ismail Khan due to their critical condition.