PESHAWAR: Thousands of protesters, who had been staging a sit-in in Pakistan’s Bannu district for a week, on Friday called off their protest after Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur assured them that no military operation was being launched in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
Pakistan’s government last month announced a new campaign to counter a fresh surge in militancy in areas along the border with Afghanistan. Major opposition parties opposed the operation and in Bannu — where eight soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing last week — thousands held rallies to call for peace and security.
One of the key demands of the protesters in Bannu was for the government to not launch any new military operation in the province. They demanded that a spike in militant attacks in the region be tackled by empowering and better equipping civilian agencies like the police and the counter-terrorism department (CTD).
On Friday, CM Gandapur traveled to Bannu where he spoke to the protesters and announced at a rally that all their demands had been accepted in letter and spirit, lauding local elders for helping avert violence when two protesters were killed after gunfire triggered a stampede at the rally on June 19.
“I have a signed copy [of the demands]. It has been done the way you [protesters] wanted,” he told the gathering. “I’m the owner of this soil and land, no one can oppress me or coerce me. As chief minister, I declare that there will be no operation in the province.”
The announcement came a day after the provincial apex committee, which comprises civilian leaders and military commanders in the province, met to discuss the situation in Bannu. The KP government later clarified that police and the CTD would be tasked to take action against militants amid a surge in violence in the area.
The resentment for military operation stems from past displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and destruction of countless homes and businesses in successive military campaigns in KP that began in 2014. But Pakistani military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry dispelled the fears this week, saying the newly proposed Azm-e-Istehkam campaign was not meant to be a full-scale military operation.
“We have offered sacrifices for our homeland and stood loyal to the country and its people. We left our homes and became nomads for our land and for the sake of peace,” Gandapur said. “We will offer sacrifices again but we will make the decisions ourselves and will not allow anyone to impose their decisions.”
The chief minister appreciated police for taking swift action against illegal armed groups in Bannu.
Provincial Minister for Public Health Engineering Pakhtunyar Khan, who hails from Bannu, said the people of the region had experienced “unspeakable hardships” for the sake of peace.
“We want peace for the entire province and we will not back down from this demand,” Khan said at the rally.
On Thursday, the apex committee said the judiciary would be requested to hold an inquiry into the Bannu shooting incident, a demand that had been put forward by protesters and Pakistan’s opposition alliance.
“Meanwhile, the government will hold its own inquiry and identify the persons responsible,” it said in a statement.

RAWALPINDI: Antiquarian Mohammad Shakeel Abbasi pulled open the shutter of his shop in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi to reveal a small space choke-full of bugles, decorative dishes, jars, vases, teapots, bowls and plates inscribed with ancient motifs.
Located in the historic Bhabra Bazaar, Abbasi’s shop, lit up by a few naked light bulbs, is among a dwindling number of antique restoration workshops in the garrison city. The 71-year-old inherited the craft from his forefathers and set up the shop nearly 40 years ago in 1985, now employing three workers who help him repair, polish and electroplate copper and brass relics to be sold to customers in Pakistan and abroad.
“Since then [1985] I’ve been in this business,” Abbasi told Arab News at his shop earlier this month as he dusted an antique bugle. “We purchase antique items and repair them and polish them and then sell them to our dedicated customers.” 
Buyers reach out to him from as far as the UK and US, he added. 
Abbasi mainly sources copper and brass items from households and scrap dealers, who scour heaps of imported items that first land at the port in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi. 
“The traders who buy them, they contact us,” the craftsman said. “They are broken items, and we have to repair them and polish and recondition them to the extent that you cannot even tell that this was an old item.”
Antiques at Abbasi’s shop can sell for anywhere between $40 to $1,000, but the art of antique preservation and restoration is now at risk of being lost as the new generation is opting out of the profession. 
“The problem is that the craftsmen who used to work [on antiques] are no longer available. Not a lot of attention is given to this craft, The government has also not prioritized training craftsmen,” Abbasi lamented. 
“Antiquarians quit the business due to lack of business, and some passed away and the new generation isn’t interested in this line of work.”
Customers and collectors who frequent Abbasi’s shop often place orders after coming across antique items on the Internet.
“I have liked an antiques page [on social media]. I searched for an item on the Internet and told him [Abbasi] about it and he arranged it for me,” Dr. Ahmad Ali, an antique collector, told Arab News. “It was the same thing that I had ordered.”
Shamas Rehman, who has been a collector for over two decades, praised Abbasi’s fine craftsmanship. 
“My forefathers were collecting antiques, it was their hobby, and now I have been collecting them since 2003,” he said, “and from wherever we can get the antiques, we buy them, collect them and place them in our homes, and this goes on.”