114 people booked for holding protest acquitted by civil judge

The Booni police had registered the FIR under Section 341 of the Pakistan Penal Code against about 114 people from Kosht after they held a protest demonstration on Charun Bridge and blocked the Chitral-Mastuj road on October 1, 2015, against the government’s failure to reconstruct the only bridge to their area. Those booked by the police included Muhammad Younus Khan, village council Kosht nazim Ghulam Mursaleen, naib nazim Waqar Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami Kosht chief Nadir Khan, social and political activist of PPP Morder Mir Ayub Khan, Habib Anwar Lal of the PTI, late Bulbul Khan Ayubi, Kissan Councillor Mr Rafi and Rizwanullah Shah. The civil judge in Booni while acquitting the protesters observed that their demand was genuine and they had dispersed peacefully after holding talks with an elected representative. It may be noted that the police had registered the FIR against the advice of MNA Shahzada Iftikharuddin who had reached the spot and held talks with the protesters. The MNA had spoken to the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and after his assurance that the damaged bridge would be built on a priority basis the protest was called off. The Kosht bridge was washed away in the July 2015 floods along with the Muxgol bridge, cutting off the whole Kosht area from the rest of the district. The people of the valley used a private chairlift to cross the river and reached Charun to hold the protest there. Later, a steel bridge was installed at the site of the damaged Kosht bridge which collapsed in May 2016, killing three people, including contractors Bulbul Khan Ayubi and Fida Hussain of Zait. Later, a wooden bridge was established at the site and the people of the area are still waiting for the construction of an RCC bridge at the site.]]>