MIRAMSHAH: February 09: Tribal elders on Wednesday threatened to set on fire the house of their lone member of the National Assembly (MNA), Kamran Khan, and block the Ghulam Khan-Khost Road if the government did not build the Fata Medical College in North Waziristan.

Speaking at a news conference, tribal elders including Malik Rab Nawaz Khan, Malik Niaz Khan, Malik Shams, Maulvi Usman Khan and others complained that the government on March 23, 2009 announced the Fata Medical College and decided to build it in Tapi area on the Bannu-Miramshah Road.

The elders said that after an agreement with the then political agent, head of Communication and Works Department and agency surgeon, the Utmanzai tribe donated 500 kanals of land on the main road for the college free of cost.

Also, the elders said the entire Utmanzai tribe and shura or council of North Waziristan led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur had taken the responsibility of providing security and protection to the college, teachers, students and other staff.

The elders said that all arrangements had been made for initiating work on the college building in North Waziristan but now they had come to know that the government had decided to shift the Fata Medical College to Bajaur Agency.

“We approached the Fata additional chief secretary and other senior officials at the Fata Secretariat in Peshawar and they told us that MNA Kamran Khan never demanded the medical college in North Waziristan.

They also told us that Kamran Khan and another MNA Engineer Shaukat from Bajaur Agency had demanded that the medical college be set up in Bajaur,” Malik Rab Nawaz claimed. He termed it a conspiracy against the people of North Waziristan and vowed to utilise all available means for bringing the Fata Medical College to Waziristan.

The tribal elders gave February 11 as the deadline to the government to publicly announce building of the college in North Waziristan otherwise they would burn the house of MNA Kamran Khan and would displace him from his native area.

They threatened to block the Ghulam Khan-Khost Road for traffic and close all educational institutions and business and commercial centres in North Waziristan if their demand was not met by the expiry of the deadline.

The elders said that they had also asked the military officials to play their role in bringing the medical college to North Waziristan otherwise they would stop work on the Bannu-Ghulam Khan Road, which is being constructed by the Pak Army.The news.