Pakistan: Kohat jirga demands gas supply to villages along Indus Highway

Kohat [Pakistan], February 15 : Decrying that Kohat being deprived of a gas supply facility for the last 15 years, residents of villages along the Indus Highway held a jirga on Sunday to protest the authorities' failure.
Despite the fact that a pipeline carrying gas to the Kohat city and other towns passed through their lands, the authorities failed to provide gas to them, reported Dawn.
Speaking on the occasion, Ayub Khan, who had gathered residents of Fazal Banda, Shaheedano Banda, Baqizai and Talab Banda, regretted that the gas line passed through the villages to Bilitang, the city and Jarma, but their towns had been deprived of the facility for last 15 years.
Further, the jirga said that the lawmakers came to the area only during elections to seek vote, and made false promises of gas supply.
A tribal elder Iqbal regretted that the women cooked food and heated water in winter with firewood in this modern age.
He said the people were forced to buy wood for Rs 1,000 per 40 kilogrammes.
The jirga participants threatened to stop gas supply to the city and other areas if their demand was not met, reported Dawn.