Bajaur blockade to hurt Chitralis too

DAWN

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: Nestled among the Hindukush mountains, the district of Chitral has so far remained unaffected by the war on terrorism. But in the coming winter the Chitralis are likely to be locked up in their rugged valley due to the blockade of the Kunar-Bajaur route which they have been using as an alternative to the over 10,000-foot-high Lowari Pass from December to May every year.
When the Lowari road connecting Chitral with other parts of the country remains closed due to hundreds of feet deep snow for about five months in winter, the people of the district take the alternative route via Afghanistan’s Kunar province and enter the Bajaur Agency via the Nawa pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to reach other parts of the country. However, the ongoing military operation has made Bajaur a no-go area this year.
To avoid being completely cut-off from rest of the world, the residents of Chitral have demanded that the government should make special arrangements for resolving their communication-related problems before the closure of the only road linking the valley with the rest of the country via the Lowari Pass.
In this regard, they stressed the need to increase the number of PIA flights from Peshawar and Islamabad besides starting a helicopter service like one launched in 1996 between upper Dir and Drosh in Chitral by the then NWFP government.
They warned that if the PIA suspended the Islamabad-Chitral flights on the pretext of unavailability of passengers this year again, they would launch a protest movement against the government.
It may be noted that the PIA had launched its Chitral service from the federal capital in June last year on the repeated demands of the residents to lessen their communication problems besides facilitating foreign tourists visiting the area. However, the national-flag carrier suspended the operation in November 2007 citing lack of passengers. The Chitralis, however, alleged that some elements in the PIA were opposed to the initiative and had tried from the very beginning to sabotage the service by denying tickets to the intending passengers and inflicting losses on the corporation.
They said the PIA was also to be blamed for the lack of passengers on the Islamabad-Chitral flight because neither it had publicised the launch of the service nor facilitated the intending passengers in getting tickets. Besides, to discourage the passengers it kept the fare at Rs3,600 against Rs2,900 for Gilgit which is situated at a longer distance from Islamabad than Chitral. The people of Chitral pointed out that the return flights from their town always remained full to capacity while ticket seekers in the PIA’s Rawalpindi and Islamabad offices were turned away on one pretext or the other.
They called upon their public representatives to take up the issue with the government to ensure uninterrupted flights to the district till the under-construction Lowari tunnel becomes operational.