No end to rift between Kohat trader unions.

KOHAT -- Differences persist between the city's two rival business unions here over collection of money for return of seized national identity cards to the shopkeepers.

Hafeez Khan, the elected president of All Tajir Ittehad, on Sunday termed baseless the allegation against them by the opponent Tajir Action Committee (TAC) that they had collected Rs300 from each shopkeeper for returning the identity cards collected by the administration during the anti-encroachment drive last month.

He said that TAC senior vice-president Israr Shinwari should have confirmed why they were taking money from the businessmen.

He clarified that they had collected money as a monthly fee from the businessmen, which was not a bribe. He said that TAC and Mushtarika Markets Union had not held elections for the last 25 years and imposed themselves on the business community. He alleged that TAC also resisted removal of encroachments. When...