KHYBER
Unknown armed persons set ablaze escalator last night in Dargai, Kum-Shelman area of Landi Kotal where the machinery was parked for the purpose of road construction, C&W official said.
He said last midnight, approximately 12:00 pm, undisclosed militants appeared on the construction site and threatened the watchman to avoid construction in the area.
They also expressed their annoyance and said that the constructor had been earlier informed but despite he initiated the development work that needed to be punished and after it they put diesel on the escalator and set it on fire, he added.
Soon after the militants fled from the scene, the watchman extinguished the fire although tires of the vehicle were burnt and partial damage was made to the engine, C&W official said.
The militants also delivered a letter with a banned militants organization monogram on the top warning not to carry out construction works in the area.
According to the official Dargai Kum-sheman two kilometers road is one of the six various types of uplift projects approved to be placed in Kum- Shelman and Loy-Shelman, the remote areas of Landi Kotal.
As per the locals the contractor refused to kick off construction work on the schemes due to the security threats.
Station House Officer(SHO)Landi Kotal police station,Ishrat Shinwari expressed his ignorance and said that no report had been lodged in that regard so far
When Member Provincial Assembly Muhammad Adnan Qadri was contacted on the matter he said that he came to know of the occurrence which was concerning and said that development works had been resumed after a long time with hectic efforts, but unfortunately such kind of unfair thing would certainly affect it.
He said that the police had been directed to probe into the incident to verify whether it was fake or the original militants’ threat.
MPA further stated that all stakeholders would be needed to think and formulate a plan collectively about how to handle the situation.
