Shalobar elders seek revival of stone crushing units.

LANDI KOTAL -- The members of Shalobar Qaumi Council threatened to block Peshawar-Torkham Highway for an indefinite period if their demand for revival of the closed stone crushing units was not met till February 9.

In a jirga of Shalobar elders held in Bara on Sunday, the SQC leaders also demanded vacating all their houses currently under the occupation of security forces in Bara.

They said that Khyber district administration failed to revive the stone crushing units, over 30 in number in the lap of Besai Baba hill, that were shut down in 2009 when military operations were launched throughout Bara against outlawed militant groups.

The members of SQC said that the prolonged closure of stone crushing units not only confronted the owners with huge financial losses but also rendered hundreds of local people jobless.

They said that expensive parts of the crushing units were also stolen during the last decade. They said that with the closure of crushing units, the residents of Bara were...