CHITRAL, June 24: The residents of Mastuj tehsil have demanded the restoration of Mastuj district, which had been abolished in 1969 at the time of annexation of Chitral, Dir and

Swat states to the country. At a public meeting convened by the Booni Bar Association at Booni here on Friday, the speakers including bar president Ghulam Mustafa, Ali Nizar, Haji Hussain, Hakim Ali and others said that the district status for Mastuj was the genuine right of the people of upper Chitral.

They recalled there were two districts in Chitral when it was a state but the district status of Mastuj was abolished which resulted in backwardness in the area. They said that area-wise Mastuj was the largest tehsil of the province having its boundaries with the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan and the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan.

They said that the local people had pinned their hopes on Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti for the upgradation of Mastuj tehsil, as had been repeatedly pledged by him during

his visits to the area.—Correspondent