KARAK: The residents of Kandao Sar, Makh Banda, Wargha Banda and several other adjacent localities have decided to boycott the upcoming general elections.

The villagers, led by Hazrat Farooq, Ghufranullah and Malik Hazrat Gul, staged a sit-in against lack of basic amenities in the area. They alleged that they were deprived of all basic amenities.

The protesters said that they were thirsting for a single drop of water in the 21st century and covering miles of distance on foot to reach to the main road.

They said that those areas were parts of Sabirabad union council.

They said that Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel and Gul Sahib Khan were elected MPAs from the union council during the last 15 years but the residents of the area were deprived of basic needs of life.

The protesters said that there was no primary school for girls in the area. They said that they could not afford to send their daughters to far flung girls schools or settle in other areas of the district to educate them.

They said that they had brought the issues into the notice of elected representatives time and again but to no avail. They said that they knew that their votes had no value in the eyes of elected representatives.

The protesters said that they were not treated as equal citizens by the elected representatives.

They said that lack of basic facilities and sense of deprivation forced them to take a unanimous decision about boycott of the upcoming elections to get the attention of the government and candidates.

The protesters said that a single voter would not go to polling station for casting vote if the candidates did not make any solid agreement with them to resolve their problems when they were voted into power.

They said that they would continue their boycott and extend their protest to the rest of the areas of the union council if they did not get any positive response regarding resolution of their problems.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2018