Making Chitral Bazaar a Hyde Park in winter

Report Bashir Hussain Azad
Frequent gatherings and rallies in Chitral bazaar by various political and non-political leaders have become order of the day. Although rallies, meetings and processions are part of democratic and political process to motivate and ensure the participation of a maximum number of the masses and project the demands of the people but the case with the political leaders of Chitral is different. Here with the closure of the Lowari top, problems of the people aggravate. Govt this year failed to sign an agreement with Afghan authorities to get the Kunar-Afghan road opened for the transportations of goods and daily-use items from Peshawar to Chitral which caused shortage of essential commodities of life e.g LPG, milk etc. Again Govt failed to arrange C-130 and extra PIA flights for Chitral as a result hundreds of passengers are stranded both in Peshawar and Chitral. Then 20 hours long loadshedding further added to the miseries and hardships of the people.
All these problems and sufferings have made the people of Chitral angry and frustrated and people have lost their confidence and trust in their leaders and the Govt. The political leaders realize this situation and are making failed attempts to restore the confidence and trust of their voters in them by holding daily corner meetings, political gatherings and rallies.
Now the people are aware of the tactics of their leaders and opine that such political moves are aimed at diverting the attention from the real issues. People are of the view that instead of arranging these rallies and making false promises and character assassination of each other, our leaders should forget their difference and take concrete steps for the development of Chitral and leave it to the people to decide in the coming election because people are the best judge.