Boy dies of accidental gunshot

Chitral Today Report
BREP: Wazir Ali, son of Abdul Hakim of Dewangole, died after a shot fired accidentally by his own gun hit him outside his home on Tuesday.
The deceased was a student of class 10.

Two more bodies retrieved; volunteer killed

SWAT: Two more bodies of Chitralis were recovered from snow on Lowari Pass near Dir Upper on Monday. During the operation, one volunteer was buried alive under the snow. He was identified as Ikramullah, 15, a resident of Swat.

About a week ago, six Chitralis while trying to cross the pass had been buried under an avalanche. Bodies of four of them including a resident of Dir had already been retrieved and shifted to Chitral.—Sana News

Chitral development project next month

By Our Correspondent

CHITRAL: The Chitral Integrated Development Project would be launched in collaboration with a Norwegian donor agency next month.
Talking to reporters here on Sunday, District Nazim Maghfirat Shah and Naib Nazim Sultan Shah said that under the project, rural development work in various sectors would be completed in the district. Initially the project had been funded to the tune of Rs1 billion.
They said that the district government would prioritise the development projects in different sectors on merit. The donor agency would establish its project management unit in Chitral for interaction with the executing agencies of the project.
Regarding the mode of operation of the project, they said that funds for different sectors of development would be utilised by different organisations which were already working in the district.
Small and medium development projects would be executed by village organisations on community participation basis. They said that the AKRSP and other organisations had already imparted valuable training of community development in the area since 1983.
The district nazim said that government departments had lost their credibility due to rampant corruption and for that reason the foreign donors hesitated to utilise funds through them.--Dawn

Textbook crisis hits Chitral

CHITRAL: Almost two weeks have passed since the new academic year started in the district but students are still lacking textbooks.

Talking to this scribe, parents complained that the government failed to provide textbooks in the district. Officials had said that books would be transported when the Lowari pass would be opened for vehicular traffic.

Parents and students feared that this would lead to wastage of another two weeks of the academic calendar. They said that the government had entered into an agreement with the Afghan government to transport commodities of daily use to Chitral from Peshawar via the neighbouring country therefore they demanded transportation of textbooks through the Afghan route.

The parents criticised the elected representatives of the area for their indifference towards the problem of the students of the government-run schools.--Zahiruddin

Renovation of DHQ hospital garden

My Dear Friends,

As many of you may already know, Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Chitral is working for the renovation and landscaping of the garden in District Headquarters Hospital chitral, to provide a calming and inviting landscape to arriving patients and visitors. This hospital is the only DHQ level hospital in Chitral providing health related services to the whole chitral as well as the Afghan people living in the surrounding areas. Due to heaviness of visitor patients in the hospital, the Environment of the hospital is affecting day by day. So for the purposes to maintain the hospital pollution free zone and upgrading in the landscaping of the hospital, the on going program is launched.
I am involved in the planning, landscaping and management of the work on the project.
About 60 % of the work is completed and the remaining is going on efficiently.
You can join us to support in this renovation program in order to enhance the beauty and build pollution free atmosphere in DHQ Hospital Chitral, by sending us your suggestion, ideas and flowers (sapling) donation. Donations of flowers sapling and other ornamental plants can be made on the following addresses. (Mr. Ajaz Ahmed, Mr Sirtaj Ahmed Khan

Program Consultant Tehsil Nazim, TMA Chitral

Cell: 03449517524 cell: 03009596326

Thanks

Ajaz Ahmed

Chitral

No end to stranded Chitralis' woes

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: Three months after completion of the excavation work on the Lowari Tunnel, the demand of Chitralis to temporarily open the roadway for commuters cut off from rest of the country due to the blockade of the only land route has not been fulfilled.
As a result, the stranded people have no option but to cross the 10,500-foot-high snow-bound pass on foot. So far, about ten persons have lost their lives and scores of others maimed due to frost biting on the pass.
The Lowari Pass linking Chitral with other parts of the country remains closed for all types of traffic from December to early April due to snow. However, due to record snowfall this year, the route may not be opened even at the end of the current month.
As the Chitralis celebrated the completion of the first phase of the tunnel on January 14, they were already faced with extraordinary communication troubles due to blockade of even the alternative route via Afghanistan due to law and order situation in Fata especially the ongoing military operation in Bajaur Agency through which the route passes.
The jubilation over completion of the tunnel’s first phase started turning sour when the federal ministry of communication rejected proposals to open the tunnel for at least two hours daily and the number of stranded people swelled at Chitral and Peshawar. The National Highway Authority (NHA) last month announced to start ferrying people through the tunnel for two hours daily but soon stopped the service after failing to manage the rush of passengers, attributing it to “security concerns” and disturbance to the ongoing work.
Passengers reaching here from Chitral alleged that NHA officials posted on both sides of the tunnel in Dir Upper and Chitral were still issuing permission to selected people to cross the tunnel in vehicles of the Korean Sambu Company constructing the tunnel. “However, poor passengers reaching the tunnel in the hope of being allowed to proceed to their destinations were turned away,” they added. As a last resort, the passengers venture to cross the killer mountain on foot, risking their lives.
The people criticised their elected representatives for failing to persuade the federal government to open the tunnel even for a few hours or make alternative arrangements to resolve their communication-related problems.
They said local political leaders instead of taking up their issues with the authorities concerned were busy in claiming credit for the construction of the Lowari Tunnel. Their infighting has also caused miseries to the residents of Chitral, they added. They said when one political leader tries to initiate a welfare project, his opponents spare no time to sabotage it, making the people suffer.
“Should political leaders who are even not able to get the already-constructed tunnel opened for a few hours claim credit for launching a mega project like the Lowari Tunnel,” one of the Chitralis said.

Chitralis hit by avalanche

ISLAMABAD: Eight people going to Chitral via the Lowari Pass have been struck by an avalanch near Dir upper on Monday afternoon. It is feared that all of the have died.

Reports said a group of people were moving towards the Loawri Top after they were denied passage from the Lowari Tunnel when the avalanche hit them. The body of one of the victims identified as Karim Dad Khan of Madaklasht has been retrieved and shifted back to Dir, while efforts were continuing to trace the others.