Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Death toll from Bajaur bombing climbs to 63

2023-08-04

[Dawn] The total number of deaths from the suicide kaboom on a gathering of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
-Fazal here on Sunday has climbed to 63, said a senior health official here on Wednesday.

Dr Liaqat Ali Khan, medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, told a press briefing that 43 bodies were brought to the hospital, while 13 bodies were taken away by their relatives from the site of the blast. He added that seven injured died during treatment in different hospitals in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
and Lower Dir on Wednesday.

Dr Ali said three bodies were buried at a local cemetery in Khar by the Rescue 1122 as nobody came to claim them.

The official said a total 123 people were maimed in the incident, who had been under treatment in different hospitals, mostly in Peshawar.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck slipped the habañero into the roasted jalapeño...
one person was killed and four children were maimed after unknown assailants shot up them inside their home in Babar Shah area of Salarzai tehsil, police and Recue 1122 officials said on Wednesday.

They said the incident occurred on Tuesday night when unknown assailants started firing at the family of Zahid Khan inside his house, leaving one person, namely Khalid Khan, 40, deader than Tut and four children injured.

Rescue 1122 officials said the maimed children identified as Maaz Khan, 8, Mariam Bibi, 13, Hasana Bib, 9 and Marwa Bibi, 6, were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.

A statement issued from the district police office claimed the police had identified those involved in the firing, and efforts were underway to arrest them as a case had been registered against them.

Related Pakistani paranoia: Bajaur bombing bid to sabotage visit of Chinese vice premier - Fazl claims foreign forces behind attack.

Link

India-Pakistan

Islamic State behind recent attacks on clerics, minorities in Peshawar: CTD

2023-07-12

[Dawn] The counter-terrorism department has claimed that the bad boy group Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(aka ISIS) is behind the recent assassinations against religious scholars and members of minority groups in the thriving provincial capital.

"The CTD has arrested ISIS affiliate Aminullah and killed another, Zafar, following their encounter with the special patrolling squad, Ababeel Force, in the thriving provincial capital," Additional Inspector General Shaukat Abbas told news hounds here.

He said on June 25, a gunman killed member of the Christian community Mushtaq and fled but he was intercepted by the Ababeel Force on the Ring Road near Garhi Qamardin area.

"As soon as the gunman saw the force, he shot up it injuring three personnel. The force retaliated and killed him," he said.

The official also said the police seized a pistol, a cycle of violence, two SIM cards, a BRT card and an Afghan citizen card carrying the name of Khalid Khan son of Musafir.

Official reveals 15-20 gunnies identified, dept closing in on them

Initial investigation identified the gunman as Zafar, an Afghan national living in the Rasheed Garhi area of the thriving provincial capital. Further investigation, especially leads from Zafar’s mobile phone, helped the CTD arrest Zafar’s father-in-law, Ameenullah, according to senior police officials.

They said that the two gunnies belonged to a network comprising Afghan nationals, who were imprisoned in Pul-e-Charkhi area of Afghanistan.

The officials said around 60 network members, who beat feet from the prison after the Islamic Emirates formed the government in Afghanistan, reportedly entered Pakistain.

They, however, said it was unknown how many of those gunnies were active.

AIG Shaukat Abbas said that assassinations against religious scholars and members of religious minorities began in March.

He said it was a challenging task to "trace the bad boy network and identify its members."

The official said nine people had been targeted since March and they included Sikhs, Christians, and Moslem scholars.

"Scientific methods were adopted, while a pattern was followed connecting the dots. The forensic evidence showed that just one pistol was used in all these attacks," he said.

Mr Abbas said the group comprising 15-20 gunnies had been identified, while the department was close in on it and would bust it soon.

"This is like cleaning your home every day that gets dirty the next day," he said.

The official said a small number of people reported extortion demands to the police.

He said a businessman, who recently came under attack in Hayatabad, had lodged a case with the police after receiving an extortion call on May 1.

Mr Abbas said the case helped Sherlocks trace those behind extortion calls.

He added that multiple calls of that nature were reported in Darra Adamkhel, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
and Malakand areas.

Link

India-Pakistan

Suspected rapists of woman beggar held in Swabi

2019-04-01

[DAWN] SWABI: Two alleged rapists of a woman beggar have confessed to their involvement in the crime during preliminary interrogations, sources told Dawn on Saturday.

They said the accused, Akbar Khan and Fayaz Khan, were incarcerated
You have the right to remain silent...
the other day and the police had obtained a two-day remand from a local court.

The wife of Sirtaj Khan, hailing from Tordher, had alleged in the FIR that two unidentified people raped her at gunpoint at an empty house in Zaida village.

The sources said the two people had deceived the beggar and told her that one of their relatives wanted to give her zakat, and took her to Zaida village. Both took out pistols and raped her at gunpoint and warned her that if she disclosed the incident to police she would be killed.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
the victim got registered an FIR against the accused at Zaida cop shoppe, said the sources. They said during investigation the two admitted to their crime.

Swabi DSP Khalid Khan said they arrested the rapists after the victim told them about the physical appearances of the two.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
the sources said the medical report of the incident was still awaited and was expected to be received on Monday.

Link

India-Pakistan

5 'Islami Jamiat Taleba students' suspended by Punjab University for thrashing man on campus

2018-10-26

[DAWN] Five Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
University (PU) students allegedly associated with the Islami Jamaat Taleba (IJT) were suspended on Thursday for beating up a man who was sitting with his wife on campus.

The PU administration also suspended a security guard ─ who was present at the time ─ for his inaction.

Videos of the incident circulating on social media show a large crowd of onlookers gathered outside the PU History Department around the man who is being beaten up by some students, while a woman yells at them to stop.

"What has he done? He is my husband," she can be heard saying in an attempt to dissuade the perpetrators from beating the man up.

The man, identified as a Awais Rind, had gone to the History Department to pick up his wife when he was beaten by the IJT students, PU Spokesperson Khurram Shahzad said.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed took notice of the incident and ordered PU Registrar Khalid Khan to take strict action against the students involved, Shahzad said.

"No one has permission to take the law into their own hands," the spokesperson said. He added that the incident was "unbearable" and assured that the administration will "maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the campus".

He said that five IJT students involved in Rind's thrashing have been suspended, along with a security guard who stood and watched instead of preventing them from beating the man.

A meeting of university administration officials took place today, after which it is expected that a formal notification will be issued announcing the suspension of the five students and the security guard.

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar also took notice of the incident and sought a report from the administration, PU spokesperson said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Man ‘kills’ niece

2017-05-07

She's "dead" now.

[DAWN] An 18-year-old woman was allegedly killed by her uncle on Friday in Fauji Colony, Pirwadhai, when her father turned down his offer of her marrying his son.

The dear departed was engaged to Wajid, a son of her uncle, who is suspected of having killed her.

However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
her father refused to marry her off to Wajid as he had polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
According to preliminary investigations, the victim’s father, Khalid Khan, had broken off the engagement and promised his daughter to a son of his younger brother.

Khalid found his daughter dead in her room on Friday and he said in his statement that two of his brothers who lived in the same house as him had told him that their brother had killed his daughter and fled.

The police said the victim’s body was handed over to her parents after a post-mortem was conducted and an investigation was launched.

Link

India-Pakistan

Opposition’s rigging allegation: Arrests as activists besiege police station

2015-12-11

SAHIWAL: Nineteen losing candidates of the second phase of local elections and their 300 supporters on Wednesday dared police to arrest them after marching on the city police station to protest registration of a case.

Having lost elections for the slots of chairman, vice chairman and councillor, they had arranged a gathering at Jogi Chowk on Sunday last to protest what they said rigging. Police registered a case against 22 losing candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the Jamaat-i-Islami and some independents and their supporters under 16 MPO.

As the protesters besieged the police station, officials arrested the 19 candidates and detained them in lock-up. They refused to arrest 300 supporters on the plea that such an arrest could be made only after identification through videos.

City police station SHO Masood Ahmed is the complainant in the FIR and interestingly he was not present at the time of arrests.

These candidates blamed the PML-N district leadership, Punjab Minster for Ushr and Zakat Malik Nadeem Kamran, MPA Malik Arshad and MNA Pir Imran Shah for political victimisation through police action.

Sheikh Ijaz, president of Tahaffuz-i-Sahiwal Forum, told the media that “we have been politically victimised for questioning rigging in urban union councils of Sahiwal city.”

DSP Ziaul Haq, along with a heavy contingent of police and Elite Force, remained alert at the police station and had to resort to baton-charge of the crowd to disperse it. Police registered case against nine of the protesters and the DSP said more cases would be instituted if they refused to disperse.

It merits mention that the returning officer of Union Council 6 has already written to the DRO that two bags of rejected votes had been misplaced at polling stations 64 and 69. Shafqat and Sheikh Ijaz contested election in the UC as independent candidates and they both challenged incomplete consolidation of final results by RO Khalid Khan on Nov 23.

The Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench has already asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to stop the gazette notification of UC 6 chairman result which was won by Haji Latif of the PML-N with one vote.

Sarmad Shafqat alleged that the RO consolidated results without counting 85 votes misplaced in two polling stations.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties condemned police action and the Bar Council and different wings of the Anjuman-i-Tajran announced protest.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2015

Link

India-Pakistan

Two policemen guarding Ismaili community flats killed

2015-11-16

KARACHI: Two policemen deployed for the security of the Ismaili community’s residential complex were shot dead at a checkpoint in the Sachal area on Saturday noon, according to officials.

Police constables Ali Raza, 50, and Ghulam Jaffer, 46, were targeted at the checkpoint set up outside Jeewani Heights, off the Superhighway, by four armed motorcyclists, said Gadap SP Chaudhry Saifullah.

The attackers also took away their official weapons, the officer said.

Both policemen were rushed to the nearby Dow varsity hospital where doctors declared constable Ali Raza dead on arrival, said Sohrab Goth DSP Khalid Khan. He added that the other constable, Ghulam Jaffer, who sustained gunshot wounds in the head died during treatment later in the evening.

According to the police, constable Ali Raza was posted at Sachal police station some four months ago. He was a resident of Bhitaiabad and originally hailed from Pano Aqil. Constable Ghulam Jaffer was posted at the Sachal police station about six months ago. He was a resident of Sachal Goth and originally belonged to Kotdiji.

With the murder of the two police officials, the number of policemen killed in the city during the current year reached 80, said a police spokesperson.

The police investigators said all the attackers wore helmets. Three of them were clad in shalwar kameez while their accomplice wore a shirt with trousers, the officials said.

The Gadap SP believed that the attack was carried out in a way that the policemen could not get a chance to retaliate.

“The picket was set up at a sensitive place,” said additional inspector general of police Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar while talking to the media at the crime-scene.

Mr Mahar, who visited the crime-scene along with Karachi-East DIG Munir Ahmed Shaikh, did not specify the nature of the area’s sensitivity.

Police sources said some police posts were established in the vicinity to keep a strict watch on criminals and to protect the community in the area after the May 13 targeted attack on their bus in which over 45 Ismaili community members were shot dead.

DSP Khan confirmed to Dawn that the police picket was set up for the protection of Ismaili community members as they resided in Jeewani Heights.

“There should have been at least four policemen at the picket,” said the city police chief. But the SHO concerned displayed ‘negligence’ by deploying only two policemen there. He said there was also negligence on the part of the officer that the policemen had not been provided with bulletproof jackets.

Asked as to how bulletproof jackets could have protected them when hitmen shot the policemen in the head, the police chief said the Sindh government had been asked for the procurement of light-weight bulletproof helmets as the old ones were heavy.

About the unabated killing of policemen despite the Rangers-led targeted operation in Karachi for the past two years, additional IG Mahar said the city that had been in the grip of violence for the past three decades could not be purged of criminals within just one or two years.

He added that the killing of the policemen might be a reaction to the ongoing operation against the criminals. About the latest killing of the two policemen, he said the attackers used 0.9mm pistol and 30-bore pistol in the attack and took away official weapons. He said the police investigators later collected 14 spent bullet casings from the crime-scene.

He said a forensic report might help the police investigators to identify the group involved in the deadly attack and to determine if the same weapons were used in other murder cases.

Following the killings, the police launched a search operation in surrounding areas. “We searched homes and flats in surrounding areas but no one was detained as we don’t want to arrest innocent persons,” said the Sohrab Goth DSP.

Meanwhile, the DIG East suspended and reverted Sachal SHO and head mohrrir on charges of negligence.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2015

Link

India-Pakistan

Suicide attack on MNA's camp office claims 7 lives

2015-10-16

[DAWN] DERA GHAZI KHAN: Seven people, including two candidates of the upcoming local government elections, were killed and 13 others injured in a suspected suicide kaboom on the camp office of a PML-N politician in Taunsa on Wednesday.

The blast, which rocked the shrine city of Hazrat Shah Sulaiman Taunsivi, took place a little before noon when a number of people were at the camp office of MNA Sardar Amjad Farooq Khosa in connection with the campaigning for the local bodies' polls.

Mr Khosa was not there when the suspected bomber went kaboom!. He had gone to Islamabad on Tuesday night.

Personnel of law-enforcement agencies and Rescue 1122 service took the bodies, including that of the suspected bomber, to hospital.

The dead were identified as Zameerul Hassan Sanghi, Akhtar Khan Tangwani, Mohammad Hussain, Malik Iftikhar, Ghulam Jaafar Saanghi, Umer Daraz and Zahid Quraishi. Zameerul Hassan and Akhtar Tangwani were candidates for the chairmanship of union councils.

Most of the injured were discharged from the Taunsa THQ hospital after first aid but the MNA's aide Pir Bashir Jaafar and camp office cook Munir Bhutta were admitted there.

Bashir Jaafar told news hounds that he was making a phone call when the blast took place.

Police said the bomber was about 20 years old. Samples of parts of his body were sent for forensic analysis and to ascertain his identity.

Khalid Khan, chief inspector of the bomb disposal squad, told Dawn that 13kg explosives and ball bearings had been used for the blast.

According to District Police Officer Ghulam Mubashar Maikin, Taunsa Sharif is adjacent to several troubled areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
. He said a joint team had been formed to investigate the incident.

Dawn.com quoted some eyewitnesses as saying that men on two cycle of violences had come to the camp office immediately before the blast. The building caught fire after the kaboom and a plume of smoke enveloped the entire area.

Link

India-Pakistan

Missing minor girl found raped, strangled

2015-08-02

[DAWN] KARACHI: The body of a minor girl, who was raped before being strangled to death, was found in the Sachal area on Friday, police and doctors said.

They said that the body of the seven-year-old girl was recovered from bushes at a desolate spot near the Abdullah Shah Ghazi Goth within the remit of the Sachal cop shoppe.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Additional Police Surgeon Dr Rohina Hasan told Dawn that the victim was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. She said that the body also bore torture marks.

She said that the girl was killed around 10-12 hours before the body was brought to the hospital at 12.10pm.

Sohrab Goth DSP Mohammad Khalid Khan said that the girl had gone missing from her residence in Abdullah Shah Ghazi Goth on July 30.

Link

India-Pakistan

PHC upholds conviction of four militants

2015-02-04

[DAWN] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
High Court on Tuesday dismissed appeal of four turbans and upheld their conviction by an anti-terrorism court in a case of possessing high quality of explosives and weapons.

A bench comprising Justice Abdul Lateef Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah pronounced a short order after hearing arguments of the defence and prosecution in the joint appeal filed by the four convicts -- Niazbeen, Sheraz, Asif Khan and Haji Habib.

The appellants were tossed in the calaboose
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
by police on Oct 27, 2013, in a raid on a hujra and attached residence in the limits of Mattani cop shoppe. Police claimed to have recovered 840 kilograms of kaboom, a Kalashnikov rifle and several pistols from them. They were charged under different sections of Anti-Terrorism Act, Explosive Substance Act, Arms Ordinance and Pakistain Penal Code.

One of the appellants, Niazbeen, had also recorded his confessional statement wherein he admitted that the kaboom belonged to them. An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar had found the appellants guilty of the offence and sentenced each of them to 14 years rigorous imprisonment.

The defence counsel argued that the appellants were falsely implicated in the case and they were not present on the spot of occurrence. He contended that the kaboom was recovered from the hujra of a local commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), Khalid Khan, and the appellants had no relation with him.

The counsel contended that the confessional statement of Niazbeen was given under duress as he was severely tortured and forced by police to record statements in some of terrorism related cases. He added that police involved the appellants in several untraced cases.

Link

India-Pakistan

Five murdered in two incidents

2014-08-21

[DAWN] LAHORE: Five people were killed and seven others were maimed in two incidents in the bustling provincial capital on Tuesday.

Three men, including two brothers, were killed and six others were maimed in an armed clash between rival groups at Badami Bagh.

City Division SP Asad Sarfraz told Dawn both the groups, led by Khalid Khan and Aamir Butt, were criminals and they used to inform police against each other's activities. He said the police had recently tossed in the slammer
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
five members of both the groups.

On the day of incident, the groups again levelled allegations against each other for providing information to police which had arrested their five members. They opened fire on each other which lasted for an hour, resulting in the killings.

Those killed were identified as Bilal Khan, 27, his brother Younis Khan, 25, and a passerby, Yasir of Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
. All the three persons was struck down in his prime.

According to police and hospital sources, Khalid Khan, his three brothers Mustafa Khan, Mujtaba Khan, Naseer Khan, and their rival Aamir Butt's brother Haris alias Raju Butt were among the injured. They all are out of danger.

Talking to Dawn, a member of the Khan group, Riaz Khan, denied the reports that the arrests were behind the clash, claiming the clash had taken place due to a minor scuffle between the children of the two parties.

He said he along with his cousins was sitting in the street when Aamir Butt and his 15 accomplices appeared there and opened indiscriminate fire on them.

"Later, a Panchayat was held to resolve the matter and both the groups agreed for a reconciliation," Riaz Khan said.

In another incident, a factory employee was allegedly rubbed out along with his friend in the name of honour at Gujjarpura.

Nadeem, 28, had contracted a court marriage with one of the suspect, Abdul Razzaq's sister some six months ago. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
he divorced his wife on the decision of Panchayat three months back and Razzaq nurtured a grudge against him.

Quoting the victim's family, police said Razzaq and his four armed accomplices, including Shani, barged in the factory where Nadeem worked and opened indiscriminate fire. Nadeem, his friend Abdul Rehman and factory owner Ali Ejaz were maimed. Nadeem and his friend died on way to hospital while the condition of Ali was stated to be critical.

The police shifted the bodies to morgue and started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the suspects.

Link

India-Pakistan

Wheat Crop Suffers Due To Continued Rains In KP

2014-03-25

The Arab Spring started because people were hungry and couldn't find jobs. Will Pakistanis go the same route, or continue the local tradition of hiring the,selves out to various jihadi organizations?

[Dawn] PESHAWR: The ongoing rain spell in the central Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
districts has dashed the wheat growers' hope for a better harvest this season as the standing crop has started showing signs of deterioration.

According to wheat growers from Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi districts, the crop has started developing black stains due to over-irrigation as a result of the intermittent downpour during the past two weeks.

"The standing crop needs sunshine to get its spike developed," said Ismail Khan, president of Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran (association of farmers), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He said rainwater had benefitted tobacco cultivation, but wheat growers, particularly, in the irrigated areas had started fearing for the standing crop.

Abdul Samad Saafi, general secretary of Kissan Board, Nowshera district, said the persistent rainy weather and loss of sunshine had started undermining the standing crop with which the farmers' hope for meeting a breakeven point at the end of the cropping season had been waning.

He said one-after-another cloudy day during the past two weeks had impaired the standing crop to get matured, hampering the development of its spike.

"In several parts of Nowshera district, the growers have reported that the standing crop has blackened because the plant roots have suffered from the sub-soil wetness," said Mr Saafi.

He said continued rains in this part of the cropping season had caused water accumulation on the surface that had aggravated the crop growth in the absence of sunshine. "The standing crop badly needs warmer weather to dry the surface awash with rainwater," said the Kissan Board's leader.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
the Swabi district wheat growers have a double jeopardy: apart from suffering slow development, the standing wheat crop has also come under a viral attack.

"Those farmers who sowed Inqilab-91 variety of wheat their crop has developed rust, causing holes in the plants," said Khalid Khan, president of Kissan Board, Swabi district.

He said approximately 10 per cent to 15 per cent area under wheat in the district has come under the rust attack, succumbing the growers to expect anything at the end of the cropping season.

"They will not even get fodder for their cattle because the viral disease does not leave it fit even for animal consumption," said Mr Khan.

He said the problem was of the farmers' own making because the directorate of agriculture extension, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, had banned the sale-purchase of Inqalab-91 wheat seeds in the province.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
only those farmers who have reproduced the crop year after year and put aside part of the harvest to get seeds had suffered this year.

Usually, farmers, said Mr Khan, mixed a specific quantity of milk in the irrigation water to protect the crop from being attacked by the viral disease. "But this time the traditional technique has not helped them much because of too many rains," said Mr Khan.

His Kissan Board colleague from Nowshera, however, has a different explanation for the fungus attack.

According to Samd Saafi, the wheat plants had been diseased only in those fields where excessive pesticides were sprayed to protect tobacco crop in the previous seasons.

"Even farm labours have suffered from skin diseases because of the substandard pesticides' spray to protect tobacco crop," said Mr Saafi.

Mr Khan, however, said hundreds of small wheat growers would not get anything of the wheat crop this season because of the disease.

The crop has been cultivated on 47,100 hectares in Swabi district this season, including 29,700 irrigated hectares and the remaining crop area categorised as un-irrigated area, according to the provincial agriculture statistics' department's data.

Wheat growers from southern Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
district, when contacted, said the crop had benefited from the ongoing rains, but further rains would not bode well for the crop.

"We received rains quite late -- only a couple of days ago -- which has benefitted the standing crop, but more rains would be counterproductive," said Mohammad Iqbal Khan, a wheat grower from Gandi Omer Khan, DI Khan.

Link

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